Every day is a busy day for Sam. When she’s not holding, bathing, feeding or playing with the baby she is fostering, she’s doing something else around the house. We caught her for a brief moment before she had to start again and get the baby ready for a meeting with the birth family. With the cute noises of the little one in the background, this energetic baby foster carer speaks to us about what it is like to foster babies and what they need to take their first firm steps in life.
Since her approval as a Brent foster carer over two years ago, Sam has looked after seven children. Despite running a big household with a full-time working husband, two daughters and five pets, Sam still feels that she can help a baby make their first steps in life. ‘It’s a hard job because you have late nights, early mornings and, broken sleep, but every single part of it is worth it because you know that you’re giving the best that you can to a little baby.’
She first thought of fostering when she and her sister, Julie, were watching an edition of Surprise Surprise when a mum was reunited with all the foster children she had cared for. ‘My sister is a foster carer and she encouraged me to do it. Me and my partner, we’ve discussed it a lot about three years ago, and we decided it was for us and that we were ready.’
It wasn’t easy at first when Sam brought fostering into her family’s life. ‘At the beginning, my youngest daughter Alexandra told me that she was jealous. We talked about it and I said to her that I can find something else to do if this makes her unhappy.’ But, in the end, Alexandra accepted all the children that come into her life and now, at the age of 10, she considers herself a foster carer. ‘My partner, he’s very good with children. On our last holiday he did everything for me and the children while I managed to relax.
