From then on, their lives shaped themselves around the new young people who came through their door. “Children are at the centre of every decision we make,” Liz says. “Fostering isn’t added on to our life, it is our life.” 

Karl rolls up his sleeve and gently rests his hand on one of three tattoos he wears in memory of a child who changed everything for them. 

“Little Ruby is with me every day,” he says. 

The tiny baby with a congenital heart condition came to them at just three months old. “She brought something incredibly special to our family,” Liz smiles.  

Ruby sadly died when she was five, but the impact she had on their lives has never faded, with Karl’s tattoos a quiet reminder of a girl who truly transformed their world. 

“She enriched our lives,” he says. “We wouldn’t change a thing.” 

For 28 years, the couple’s home has always held a child who needed safety, healing or the chance to begin again. Fostering isn’t a task for Karl and Liz. It’s a life they have stepped into, embraced and made their own. 

Their journey began when Liz was working as a detached youth worker, meeting young people and seeing first-hand the struggles many faced. “I thought, I could help them,” she says. When she mentioned fostering to Karl, his response was instant: “Yeah, let’s give it a go.” 

Everything happened quickly after that. “We left foster panel at the town hall and were told, ‘We’re coming later with some bunk beds - there’s a child we need you to care for’” Karl remembers.  

“Although we already had our two children, Jessica (10) and Sam (6), welcoming a foster child into our home for the first time was astonishing. It changed our lives in ways we never expected,” he said. 

Across almost three decades, fostering has transformed how they see the world. “You realise things are happening in your own town that you never imagined,” Liz says. “It opens your eyes. You can never be complacent.” But there is much joy, too, with children returning home, being adopted, growing into adulthood, staying in touch. “To have played a part in that … it’s immense,” Karl says. 

In time, the couple – who've been married for 41 years - discovered a place that seemed to reflect their fostering journey: a beautifully calming allotment. It became a peaceful patch of earth where things could be tended, restored and encouraged to grow, much like the children they care for. 

Liz has simple, heartfelt advice for anyone considering fostering. “Open your heart and your home,” she says. “Take each day as it comes, be ready for the unexpected, and always keep your sense of humour.” 

Fostering, like tending a garden, isn’t perfect or predictable. But with patience, love, and community, remarkable things grow.