A COUPLE are challenging the perceptions about who can foster children, encouraging others not to write themselves off as foster parents because they do not fit the typical demographic.
Tim Jarvis, and his wife Claire, have been fostering with FCA West Midlands for 12 years.
Tim said: “I’m not your average foster parent because I have a beard, love motorbikes and used to be a security guard.
“People don’t expect you to go from that to fostering.
“I suppose when someone thinks about a foster parent, they probably imagine a sweet older lady called Margaret with grown up children who lives round the corner, but that’s not our experience of fostering – it’s one of the most diverse groups of people you can imagine.
“We didn’t have any children of our own before fostering either.
“My first child was a foster child and she was a bridesmaid at our wedding and even came on our ‘family moon’.
“We had a 10-year plan to foster, then move to Spain and live happily ever after.”
Now, 12 years on, the couple have a biological son, have adopted one of the children they fostered and are fostering a teenager.
They even converted their garage a few years ago to make more space for children and teenagers who needed a loving home.
Tim said: “We were always down to foster kids aged over 12 because they’re more independent – they can get themselves dressed, feed themselves and take the bus to school.
“That all changed one afternoon, when we got a phone call about a baby.
“They were like: ‘We’ve got a baby. It’s an emergency. Can you have her?’ And I immediately said: ‘Yes, of course we can’ because how can you say no?
“I said I wanted a teen I wouldn’t have to feed and parent like a baby. And look what happened. We ended up adopting her.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care how old the kid is – I just want to change a life.”
Tim’s experience highlights the growing need for people of all backgrounds to consider fostering.
“I don’t look like a typical foster parent, and when our most recent foster daughter arrived she was definitely a bit intimidated by me, she even told me that.
“But now we know each other and she’s just part of the family.”
Every year, around 39,000 children enter care, but there is a shortage of more than 6,000 foster parents to care for them.
Tim is urging those who have room in their heart and home to come forward and help bridge this gap, he said: “Just do it. What have you got to lose?
“Yes, it can be challenging, and you’ve got to be open-minded, but it is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I love it, and if I get the chance to do it again in a second life, I will.
“It might be for you, it might not. But unless you do it, you won’t know.”
There are more than 11,000 children in care in the West Midlands, and 1,036 are in Worcestershire.
Anyone over 21 who has a spare bedroom and the legal right to live and work in the UK can call 0800 023 4561 or visit: thefca.co.uk to learn more about fostering with FCA.
