For Louise, the idea of fostering had been with her since her teenage years, but it finally became real one evening at home. 

Dave had been watching a television programme about fostering. “He just came to me and said, ‘I want to foster.’ Something in that story clicked for him. He was ready,” she explains.  So from that point on, it felt like something they were ready to take on together. 

Their first call came on Louise’s daughter’s birthday. A social worker rang to say a five‑year‑old boy needed a home that night. They knew nothing about him, only that he had travelled two hours and had been removed suddenly from his family.  

He arrived close to nine o’clock, standing at the gate with his belongings in a carrier bag, his arm in a plaster cast, holding a well‑worn teddy bear. “All I could think was he’s five years old, it’s late, and he doesn’t know who I am. That was heartbreaking,” says Louise.  

That first night was filled with small, gentle acts; a standing bath, new pyjamas, and the steady hum of the washing machine as Louise cleaned the bedding he’d arrived with. 

“The teddy he brought with him smelled of home. It just mattered so much to him that he had that,” she smiles. 

Louise feels that fostering is hard to put into words. “It’s giving children the same opportunities you’d give your own, even though there are rules and systems around you. And you do fall in love with the children. It is hard not to.” 

Over 15 months, they watched that little boy find his voice. “He went from being assessed as developmentally two years old to reading, writing, swimming, riding a bike. The progress was immense.” 

Even now, years later, he still runs towards them when they visit. “Hearing him call out our names in that moment, that told me everything. It was worth more than any thank you,” she says. 

At the quieter end of the beach near Thorpe Park is where Louise and Dave go to recharge. “Some days, when the tide’s in and the sun’s shining, you could be anywhere. We really need that sense of freedom. It gives us the space to keep going.”