Over 23 years, Charles and Dianne Hubbert have fostered more than 40 children in their home in Croxteth, Liverpool. They have just retired, after being awarded an MBE for their services to foster care.
The pair became interested in social care after working as adult support workers for people with special needs and learning difficulties, and seeing their neighbour fostering children.
“I saw an advert for Barnardo’s looking for short-term breaks. Me and Charlie had a chat about it, and we chatted to the kids and I said: ‘I think this is something we could do’,” Dianne, 60, recalled.
“I just wanted to help families out by giving them a break. We put the kids in bunk beds and they had the little box bedroom. We knew from working with adults that families are crying out for this, that there’s a shortage of respite care.”
The pair went to meetings and peer support groups organised by Barnardo’s, where they could meet other foster carers and families considering the process – a favour they later returned once they had experience. “You just learn bit by bit from other people,” said Charles, 75.
They also undertook a course about what to expect that was delivered by a social worker once a fortnight for over a year. “It’s a huge commitment,” said Dianne.
Their daughter, 11 at the time, embraced the opportunity to meet new children, though their son, six, was initially more circumspect. “Our kids sort of grew up with them,” Dianne said.
The family initially fostered for one weekend a month, along with extra days during summer holidays and half-term. But after their daughter left home, they decided to become contract carers for Barnardo’s, receiving a salary. The charity built an extension to the house that would be fully adapted for children with disabilities.
“We had a minibus with a wheelchair lift, and whenever we went from where we live to seaside resorts we took the kids with us if they weren’t in school,” said Charlie.
“Many days we had kites tied to everyone,” added Dianne.
She recalled one boy, who needed round-the-clock care from a nurse. “He was lovely, he always had a smile on his face and he’d laugh. He was quite funny, he liked a bit of banter, he loved that.
“I think we’ve had a good impact on them all, we’ve given them all a break and helped them all out. We were very friendly with the families, some of the children we had three or four years, maybe longer.”
But she acknowledged there had been tough times: “Sadly we have lost a few children, who’ve been ill, or with complex needs.”
Charlie agreed that at times it had been “very, very hard”, but, “we’re very, very glad we’ve done it. We’ve got some lovely memories.”
Dianne said families who were thinking about it should approach charities such as Barnardo’s for advice. “I think it’s the thought of going into the unknown for some families, what to expect – it’s not a 9-5 job, it’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That might be a bit of a shock to some people,” she said.
She added: “We couldn’t say ‘oh we just loved this one child’ because we’ve had that many, and they’ve all left a little bit of themselves here, and we’ve made a little bit of an impact on the lives of families.
“It’s just been our life for 23 years. The kids were like part of our family. ”
