Twenty Years as Parent and Child Foster Carers: Mark and Jackie Humberstone

Jackie and Mark Humberstone joined Blue Sky as a small independent fostering agency in 2008 and have focused solely on Parent & Child fostering.

During our film interview [below], they describe the experience of Parent and Child fostering. As the first foster carers at Blue Sky to solely focus on this area of fostering, they have a wealth of experience to share.

Using their fostering expertise.

After twenty years, both Mark and Jackie recently retired from fostering; Jackie now works with Blue Sky Fostering as a Social Work Assistant, using her expertise and experience as a Parent & Child foster carer to help advise and support other P&C foster carers. She says:

“I work across all the hubs, with all of the P&C foster carers trying to find out what extra training we can offer; I also facilitate an online support group weekly that reaches out to all of our P&C foster carers. We regularly do what we call a ‘working group forum’, where foster carers attend with staff, and we all get our heads together to find out what we need to put into to the Parent & Child section of the Blue Sky Fostering Handbook. It will be very helpful for new P&C foster carers coming in, and for the ones that we currently have."

Staying Resilient

As they share stories from their time as P&C foster carers, Jackie and Mark bring laughter, care and compassion to our interview. I ask how they have sustained such good-humour over the years, and Mark comments,

“Parent & Child fostering is usually over a period of time, like a 12-week assessment. Some of them went on for over a year – but they were never long-term. I take my hat off to foster carers who do more full-time – I’m not sure we could have done that. Parent & Child fostering worked for us and our family.”

Devoting time and energy.

When I ask if Jackie can give advice to anybody interested in Parent and Child fostering, she says:

“Parent & Child fostering is not for the faint-hearted. It’s really for someone who can devote their time and energy. It can take over your life for the time they are with you, but we’ve always enjoyed that aspect, even with our kids. It’s been very fulfilling to see how they improve and take on advice. It’s just lovely when that happens; you see it, and you’ve been involved in it.”

Watch Jackie and Mark's interview below: