Foster Portsmouth, alongside our Fostering South East cluster partners, took 'Pride' of place at UK Pride earlier this month to tackle any perceptions that may still prevent some from the LGBTQ+ community from exploring fostering to build a family life.
Our team also engaged with event goers to raise awareness of the national crisis in foster care and the need for more foster carers in the area, and to celebrate our foster carers from the LGBTQ+ community.
Foster carers like sole carer Michael: "Because I was fostered myself, I chose to become a foster carer rather than adopt. I had the same wonderful long-term carers who gave me amazing opportunities. I want to give something back to children who need care and stability in their lives."
 Refugee Week (16-22 June) raises awareness of the reasons why people seek refuge. Many children seeking safety and asylum - often fleeing persecution, war, disaster or poverty - seek safety in Portsmouth.
Arriving as young as 12-years-old, these children and young people have travelled hundreds of miles, have been separated from family through no fault of their own, and often speak little or no English. We need more foster carers to help us provide them with a secure and caring home.
Tamara Groen, who has cared for young people for over five years, shared: “I am particularly passionate about supporting young asylum seekers… providing them with a secure base as they make their way in the world."
 During Volunteers' Week (2-8 June), we highlighted the role of our fabulous kinship carers.
Kinship carers – also known as connected persons or family and friend carers – volunteer to raise a child or young person in Portsmouth whose parents are unable to look after them.
They include relatives like grandparents, aunts/uncles or siblings, or other adults who have a connection to the child/ren such as a neighbour or close family friend.
Kinship Care allows children to feel cared for and loved in a secure and nurturing home by someone they already have a connection with, and provides them with the opportunity to remain within their extended family network.
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