Celebrating our amazing foster carers

Foster carers dedicate so much time, love and effort to caring for young people and the annual Buckinghamshire County Council Fostering Awards are the perfect time to celebrate these unsung heroes’ achievements.

The awards evening event, hosted on Friday 4 October at The Dairy, Waddesdon, recognised the huge commitment from our carers to children in their care. With surprise entertainment, tasty food and an array of well-deserved awards and certificates, the event was a fantastic occasion for carers to take the spotlight.

In addition to certificates awarded to foster carers for long service and training achievements, there were also four awards for special achievements: Best Newcomer, Foster Carer of the Year, Willow Award (celebrating the courage and dedication that foster carers bring to their role each day) and the Emergency Award. Nominations for these awards were submitted and the winners were decided by a panel of judges.

This year’s awards went to:

• Best Newcomer: Sam Hines and Aidan O’Neil

• Foster Carer of the Year: Rachel and Barry Porter

• Willow Award: Denise and Michael Wiles

• Emergency Award: Rose and Ted Farrar

Warren Whyte, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services said: “Our fostering awards evening is just a small way of showing appreciation for all the fantastic commitment from our carers day in, day out. Without this brilliant group of carers, many children’s lives just wouldn’t be the same.

“We are extremely proud of everything our carers do to change children’s lives for the better and would like to personally thank each and every one of them.

“As lucky as we are to have our current group of foster carers, there are still children out there in need of a foster home close to their local community and we need more foster carers to look after them.

If you have ever considered fostering, or know someone who could, please get in touch or join us at one of our information sessions.”