Darlington student Shane found more than a temporary home when he was welcomed by foster parents the Edwards – he found a new family. Steve Pratt reports

"THEY always go away better than when they came,” says Shane. He’s referring to the foster children who have passed through the Edwards family home in Hurworth over the past ten years.

He has never gone away. While other foster children have been and moved on, Shane has stayed. At 18, when legally his fostering came to an end after eight years, he remained, as much a part of the family as Simon and Jeannette Edwards’ daughters Jasmin, 20, and Mollie, 16.

“You do what you can and hope you can make a difference,” says Mrs Edwards, who worked as a manager for Thomas Cook for 15 years before becoming a full-time carer. “I feel I can make more of a difference when I can help with their education because I see that as the way forward for them in the future.”

Not only has Shane found a happy and loving family, but fostering has had a positive influence on the Edwards’ daughters.

Teesside University student Jasmin is studying early childhood studies and found her fostering experience invaluable. Mollie is considering a gap year with a project helping children in Africa, again finding the family’s foster work a help.

Mrs Edwards first got in touch with Newton Aycliffe-based agency Reach Out Care after seeing a fostering advertisement in a newspaper.

“It was something I’d been thinking about for a while. When you’re interested in fostering, there’s usually a story behind it – something that triggers why you want to go into it.

I had a difficult childhood and a difficult upbringing and as far as I’m concerned I could have ended up in foster care myself.

“It’s something that interested me for that reason. And we had two babies that died fullterm – this is before we had Jasmin and Mollie – and that obviously struck a chord.

“Of course, we involved the whole family in the decision. It has to be because it impacts not just on your immediate family but everybody, the wider family.”

They began fostering Shane and his older brother Rob in 2005. Mrs Edwards recalls their arrival. “Your mum came with you as well. I was new to fostering and couldn’t believe how he made himself at home,” she says.

“He came in and was showing me photographs, and his mum was showing me photographs.

He was placing everything out in his bedroom and showing me all the stuff that he had done.”

The brothers had been in three previous foster homes. “We were the fourth and that’s because the carers couldn’t cope with Rob. Very poignantly, Shane said if you can’t cope with Rob, I’m not moving. He was happy with his previous carers but they couldn’t cope with Rob,” says Mrs Edwards.

“He wanted to be with his brother. Shane and his brother are like chalk and cheese, completely different. Rob was a handful but he stayed and we were committed to see it through.”

All the time, the Edwards were conscious of the effect fostering was having on the family.

“You don’t want to do something that’s going to be to the detriment of your own children. It’s a very difficult balancing act sometimes,” she says.A T 18, Rob opted to go and live with his mother. Shane, who has just turned 18, has stayed with the Edwards family.

Otherwise he would have had to find somewhere to live elsewhere.

Shane doesn’t remember settling into the family home but says, “I felt better here than I did in the other places. I don’t know if it’s because they had children already.”

They made sure he had a good education. He changed schools and, as Mrs Edwards puts it, “did well all the way through schools, with no behavioural issues or anything”. He got ten GCSEs and attends Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington, with his eye on a career in nursing.

Mr Edwards adds: “We feel that education is the only way out really, the way to change their lives.”

“What helped as well,” says Mrs Edwards, looking at Shane, “was that your mum was very happy at you being here, openly happy at you being here than where you previously were. It’s important to have a good relationship with the foster family. She made that easy, to her credit. She’s been great.”

Shane has often shared family life with other foster children as the Edwards have cared for about 25 in the decade they have been fostering.

They have ranged from a six-month-old baby to a mother and baby. Nine of them have been teenagers, all with different reasons for placements.

The length of time has varied.

“It might be respite care or over the summer holiday, or leading up to court cases. Sometimes the children have been traumatised by whatever’s gone on at home.”

When the phone rings with news of a possible emergency placement, Mrs Edwards says there is no right or wrong reason for saying yes or no. “When a referral comes through I very much go on gut instinct – and it’s held us in good stead.”

Education is important for everybody, creating positive life opportunities for the young people and hopefully stop the “cycle” of care, she says.

While fostering, she has gained a first class honours degree in business management and Mr Edwards earned a degree in landscape architecture.

“I believe there may be a perception that you only foster if you’re not qualified to do anything else, and that most foster carers aren’t perhaps so well educated, says Mrs Edwards.

“But it’s a fulfilling career open to everyone, from all educational backgrounds and walks of life.”