I left my career in financial advice and opened up my home to foster

A rewarding career

Changing careers is a daunting prospect, but sometimes taking a leap of faith can change not only your life but others too. From learning new skills to having a completely different life purpose, it’s an opportunity to better yourself and gain new experiences. That is something that happened to Martin and his partner.   After a career in finance, Martin explained that they both had had very good childhoods and relatively well-paid jobs, but when his partner decided to leave her job in London.

We considered fostering as a way of giving back to society after our fortunate childhoods. After years of working abroad on a lot on various large agricultural projects and then as a financial advisor, I Martin felt fortunate enough to live in a big house and felt there was space to open it up to foster.

Martin and his partner started their fostering journey with a Local Authority almost 20 years ago and joined Nexus Fostering in 2017.  They have had 5 placements over their fostering journey with Nexus so far. Martin is open about how fostering can deliver some challenging times but feels that the positives generally outweigh the negatives. Martin spoke of one of the rewarding aspects of fostering can sometimes be after the placement ends citing the example of a young lad, they fostered leaving under a cloud but now he’s a fully functioning member of society and an excellent father, which he puts down to the time he spent with Martin and his partner.  

Support is always available

One of their current placements has been under Nexus Care +, typically meaning they can be more demanding as the child has been through trauma and neglect, often displaying challenging behaviours. As a result, children can have difficulty forming attachments and trusting adults and may struggle to settle a bond’. Nexus Care + provides a bespoke package to support each child and their foster carers including training on therapeutic foster care. With Nexus Fostering the support is 24/7 with all the training you need available.  The couple has a strong support network and regularly attend their local support groups in Nottingham where they meet with our other local carers. The couple has completed a variety of training with Nexus Fostering from narrative work, trauma, behaviour management, and first aid to safeguarding and child protection.

‘I feel like fostering keeps us young as we are slightly older than many of the parents at the school’.

Martin touched on the importance of taking care of yourself and your own well-being while fostering. Keeping themselves busy is important; Martin goes bell ringing at his local church once a week and his partner is an active volunteer in the community.

So what would Martin say to someone who might be considering fostering?

‘I think to certainly be open to different situations, many of the children have been through situations I could have never imagined as a child. Certainly, for myself it makes me appreciate the upbringing I had and my parents. It exposes you to a variety of different people I wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for fostering’.

Fostering is not only life-changing for the foster children, but it’s also a rewarding experience for you and your family. Fostering can open your eyes to new cultures, teach you things about yourself you never knew and give you a deeper purpose in life. There are so many reasons to consider a career in foster care and why foster care is so important, but the main one will always be the fact you get to change a child’s life. If you would like more information on fostering or have any questions- get in touch.