Day in a life of a Brighton and Hove City Council foster carer

Here is a snapshot of Brighton and Hove foster carer Laura who, with her husband Mathew, has been caring for our local children for 5 years. They are fostering 2 children; 18 month Amy and three year old Ben. They also have 3 children of their own; Georgia aged 10, Lauren aged 14 and 17 year old Luke.

6.30 am My day starts!

I get woken up by Amy, the toddler, pulling on my toes. She sleeps in the cot at the end of our bed; the toe pulling soon changes to shouts of "Mum" and I get out of bed to give her the first hug of the day.

6.45 am I then hear three year old Ben singing from his bed. This is a real joy to hear as, when he was first brought to us by his social worker; he had been badly neglected; he did not know how to speak; his stomach was distended from not being fed properly, and his hair was matted and thinning. We waited six months to see his beautiful smile. Mathew gets Ben up and gets himself off to work

7.00am to 8.00am all our children begin to gather in the kitchen where I make sure everyone has breakfast. We are tuned into Heart on the radio and I have a little dance around the kitchen with Amy. I wash and dress the youngest two; search for a P.E. kit for one daughter; retrieve mobile phone and a pair of school shoes from inside the fireplace, hidden by Ben

8.20am The mini-bus arrives for Ben to take him to his nursery for children with learning difficulties. I hurry my children out of the front door so they can all get to their schools on time.

8.30am The sight of everyone leaving has caused Amy to scream; she still gets panicky about people leaving her. Calm Amy down and take a breath, realise I am hungry and sit down with Amy at the kitchen table for her second breakfast and my first.

Clear away all the breakfast mess and get Amy and myself ready for mother and toddler group

9.30am Get Amy into her buggy and enjoy the short walk to the group. Amy loves the chance to meet other little ones and play with other toys and I enjoy the chance for a cup of tea and bit of a sit down.

11.00am Leave group and do a bit of food shopping. Amy is lulled to sleep during the walk which is perfect as it will be all go when I get back home again.

12.00 noon Back home I take a call from another foster carer who has become a good friend asking me if I can care for her baby for a few hours next week! I say yes because I know the baby and he will be comfortable with me and I know she will do me a favour next time I need help. This is one of the benefits of our fostering network- there are others like you who live locally. We help each other out.

12.15pm Make lunch for me and feed Amy who has just woken up. Phone rings again. It is one of the mums who adopted a girl who I cared for. She was with us from 5 weeks to 9 months old. The adoptive Mum still keeps in touch and asks for advice even though the little girl is now 5 years old!  Christmas needs more and more planning as I have kept in touch with at least 10 of the children who were adopted after we had fostered them and the list keeps growing.

1.00pm The minibus returns Ben. I change his clothes and he has half an hour before he is collected by his contact supervisor to go and see his birth family.

1.30pm As Ben leaves, my supervising social worker arrives. I am glad to see her. We have built up a great relationship over the years. We discuss court proceedings for the two fostered children, plans to start to move Amy onto adoption. My social worker asks me about my own children and how everyone is coping with being a fostering family.

2.30pm Amy tips out a whole box of toys and rummages until she finds Postman Pat. The social worker for the children arrives. Mathew joins the meeting before returning back to his other job. We talk in more detail about how the two children are progressing and about plans for finding an adoptive family.

3.30pm My children start to arrive from school; tired, hungry, noisy.

3.45pm  Begin cooking evening meal. We had a roast last night, tonight I will make a curry.

4.30pm Ben arrives home from his contact. He is tired and grumpy.

5.00pm  All sit down at the dining table for family dinner. Mathew arrives home in time to join us. I sit between Ben and Amy. I cut Ben's food and make sure he eats properly and I feed Amy. Manage to feed myself too.

The older children clear away and load dishwasher. My son rushes out to his football practice. Mathew helps our daughters with their homework.

5.45pm  Bath time for the two little ones. Mathew settles Ben in his bed. I sing their bedtime song with them and Ben falls asleep. I give Amy her bottle, put her in her cot in our room and hope she will also go to sleep quietly. She does. Hurray.

6.30pm I have some family time with my own daughters and husband

7.00pm Make some phone calls.  Fill in my foster carer diary. Catch up on the soaps with my girls. Relax!

9.00pm Finally go to bed to get enough beauty sleep to face another fostering day.