Voices of Foster Carers

Our Fostering Journey

As a child, I grew up watching Home and Away and always wanted to be like Pippa. My husband and I often talked about fostering, but it never seemed to be the right time. There was always something that got in the way.

Then, when our daughters were aged four and two, we saw an advertisement about fostering and felt that the time was finally right. We looked at several agencies but decided to foster with our local authority, as it felt right to help keep children within their own city and community.

Over the following months, we completed our training and met some amazing people who became close friends. Social workers visited our home to get to know us and learn about our family, including our daughters. We talked about our backgrounds, our experiences, and how we worked together as a family unit.

Once our assessment was completed, we attended the fostering panel and were approved to foster one child.

Our first placement was a baby boy. He was absolutely amazing. Like any new experience, there were challenges at first, but they never put us off. Now, 15 years later, we have fostered more than 40 children.

Throughout our fostering journey, we have provided short-term, long-term, emergency, and respite care, supporting children and young people with a wide range of needs.

Life has changed enormously over the years, but always for the better. We even moved to a larger home so that we could care for more children.

In 2023, I was honoured to receive the BBC Radio Stoke Carer of the Year Award, which was an incredibly proud moment for me and my family.

Our daughters have been a huge part of our fostering journey from the very beginning. When they were younger, they attended the Children of Foster Carers Support Group. This gave them the opportunity to meet other children in fostering families and helped them navigate both the highs and the lows that can sometimes come with fostering.

Looking back, fostering has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives. It has not only changed the lives of the children we have cared for, but it has also enriched our own family in ways we could never have imagined.

A Stoke-on-Trent family have welcomed more than 40 foster children into their home over the past 14 years, including a one-day-old baby.

Fostering has become such an everyday part of their life that Nick and Katy Bostock’s 19-year-old daughter is aiming to become a foster carer for teenagers after she graduates from university.

Nick and Katy have been fostering through Stoke-on-Trent City Council since 2012 and have fostered up to five children at any one time, even moving house to be able to foster more.

Their own two children, now aged 17 and 19, were aged just two and four when the family’s fostering journey began.

The family have been nominated in the Carer of the Year category of the Your Heroes Awards 2026 by Marie Plant from the Fostering Team at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

She said: “Katy and Nick provide a loving and nurturing home for three young children, two of whom are the same age and share very similar personalities. They have shown exceptional dedication and emotional resilience while supporting the older children through complex and often uncertain care plans.

“Katy and Nick always respond with compassion and professionalism, immediately opening their home again without hesitation. The breakdown of placements can be an incredibly distressing and confusing experience for children, yet Katy and Nick have worked tirelessly to provide reassurance, stability and emotional safety during these transitions. They have been deeply attuned to the children’s emotional needs, offering consistent care, comfort and understanding to help them process disappointment, loss and change.

“Their ability to prioritise the children’s wellbeing above all else has allowed the children to re settle and feel secure, supported and valued during what could otherwise have been a very unsettling time.

“Central to this nurturing environment are Katy and Nick’s daughters, Daisy and Poppy, who play a vital and meaningful role in the family’s fostering journey. Daisy and Poppy have shown remarkable kindness, patience and maturity, actively supporting the three children in their care and helping them feel welcomed, included and safe. Their willingness to share their parents, their home and their everyday family life has been instrumental in helping the children rebuild trust and form positive relationships.

“Together Katy and Nick with the invaluable support of Daisy and Poppy have created a warm, resilient and emotionally supportive family environment. Their approach reflects a deep commitment to meeting children where they are, especially during times of loss and uncertainty.

“Their compassion, strength and child centred values truly exemplify the very best of fostering and the positive impact they continue to have on the lives of the children in their care cannot be overstated.”

Katy said: “Being part of a fostering family has given Poppy and Daisy stepping stones. One is thriving at University and aspires to foster teenagers and the other wants to train to become a paramedic.

“If anyone reading this is considering becoming a foster carer I’ve advise them to look at Facebook or Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s website. Fostering is something I’ve never regretted it.”