Foster care in Blackpool: Are you interested in providing the guidance teenagers need?

If you have room in your hearts, and in your home, then Caritas Care would be keen to hear from you.

The lives of young people in the Blackpool area needing support can be turned around with the help of foster families.

Perhaps that could be your family.

Rebecca Hughes, Caritas Care’s Fostering Team Manager explains that teenagers in foster care can often find themselves at a crossroads.

Youngsters need guidance, support, stability and love, to deal with the challenges that adolescence brings.

The biggest need is to support children aged 13

Now the charity, says Rebecca, is making a call to people in Blackpool who feel they could offer that very guidance which can help young “reach their full potential as they mature into adulthood”.

Says Rebecca: “By opening your doors to these young people, you could be providing them with an opportunity to grow, achieve and discover what they can be really capable of.”

The biggest need for foster carers in the Blackpool area is to support children aged 13.

Rebecca explains that many young people continue to need a safe and stable home environment.

The positive role which foster carers play

She explains that Caritas Care “urgently need people who would consider stepping forward and make a life-changing difference at a time when these young people are going through physical and emotional changes in their lives”.

Foster carers can provide the encouragement and family structure that helps young people to flourish.

Foster carers play a positive role with helping young people face life’s challenges across school, friendships, and ultimately gives them the prospect of a brighter future.

Even though fostering teenagers, explains Rebecca, can come with some challenges, the rewards “are endless”.

She says that watching a young person achieve their goals, in all aspects of their life, and to become a part of a loving family, can be “unbelievably fulfilling”.

Help teenagers thrive in a supportive family

The teenagers who need a foster home have not experienced the parenting they require and need the stability, consistent care and support that foster carers can provide.

Over half of the children currently living in fostering families with Caritas Care are over 13 and “are all uniquely fabulous, with their own sets of talents and strengths”.

Foster carers often use the words “funny, caring and resilient” to describe the teenagers they care for.

Caritas Care believes that every teenager deserves a chance to thrive in a supportive family.

Rebecca says: “By opening your home and heart, you can provide them with the tools they need to overcome the challenges they may face and create a brighter future.

She asks that if people in Blackpool feel they can help, then to get in touch to help “create better life chances, choices and opportunities” for teenagers.

To find out more, here’s how to get in touch

Contact the team at Caritas Care for an informal discussion if you believe you can offer a Blackpool teenager the care, security and sense of belonging they need.

Rebecca stresses that “no question is a silly one” and Caritas Care is keen to hear from you.

For more details email [email protected] or phone 0800 652 6955.More information is available online at Caritas Care