LGBTQ+ Adoption & Fostering Week 2024
LGBTQ+ Adoption and Fostering Week 2024 returns on Monday 4 March. Running until to Sunday 10 March, it remains the only campaign in these industries to focus on the LGBTQ+ community.
We celebrate our adopters and foster carers every week of the year, and this week we are giving particular attention to celebrating those in the LGBTQ+ community who are already fostering, adopting or thinking about doing so.
“I have been a Foster Carer with Devon County Council for nine years. Previously, I occasionally considered fostering, but the time never seemed to be right. I thought, mistakenly, you had to own your own home and be in a long term relationship for a start. Neither of those applied to me. One day I noticed an advert on the side of a bus asking for Foster Carers and decided to take the plunge and apply. I left my job in March 2015 and I welcomed a little seven year old boy into my home. He is still with me, and is now 17 years old.
“Whilst still at primary school, he asked me why girls could wear either skirts or trousers to school but boys had to wear trousers. I wasn’t really able to answer that! Not long after, he said he felt like a girl in a boy’s body. Over the following six years I supported him/her through a transition to a girl.
“What have I learned? To have no preconceptions or expectations. To listen to my child and support them. To let them explore their identity without prejudice or judgement. Above all, to love them.”
Ruth – One of our inspirational Foster Carers
For LGBTQ+ people thinking about fostering or adoption the question absolutely shouldn’t be “will my sexual orientation or gender identity count against me?”
We encourage people of the LGBTQ+ community to think about giving a nurturing, safe home to a child and foster with Fostering Devon.
“This week, as every week we welcome enquiries from Devon’s LGBTQ+ community, the most important thing to us is that you can provide a loving, safe and stable foster home for a child or young person for as long as they may need. “
Every child in our care is unique, and all have very different needs. Here at Fostering Devon we are interested in what you have to offer a child or young person, we need people with different skills, abilities and experiences – who you are really does matter to us. Please get in touch.”
Emma Nobes – Fostering Devon Service Manager
Across Devon, we currently have 383 Foster Carers, of which 44 currently live in the Teignbridge area. This is far less than the amount of carers we need across Devon and in the Teignbridge area. It is of paramount importance to our service to keep the child in their local area, where appropriate. By keeping the child in their local area, they are able to continue at their school where they are known and cared about by their teachers, and their friends. Having to move them out of their known area means not only do they lose their familiar home environment with pets, toys and siblings, but also lose the connections they have with education, health and friendships.
We need more foster carers from all backgrounds regardless of their sexuality, gender, relationship status, race, ethnicity or religion.
Foster Carers for Devon County Council receive excellent training opportunities, support from our community and generous allowances. Click the button below for more information.