Grace and Stephen
aged 45 and 50
GRACE AND STEPHEN are a couple who complement each other. Grace is a very friendly and chatty person who is always happy and full of enthusiasm, while Stephen is confidently quiet, calm and relaxed. He would rather listen than speak and is extremely patient. Stephen is also logical, meticulous and very good at problem solving. The couple have been married for 24 years.
Although Grace enjoys going to the gym, and Stephen enjoys fishing, they also have many shared interests. These include walking, visiting friends, taking foreign holidays, going to the theatre, and entertaining friends in the home.
Grace and Stephen have two children: Richard, aged 23, and Andrew, aged 18. Richard recently returned home from university after completing a degree in pharmacology, and Andrew recently left home to study medicine in September 2007. As a family they are close and informal, and enjoy spending quality time together. Both Richard and Andrew present as very polite, well-adjusted and secure young men, confident in the knowledge that they have the love and unconditional support of their parents. The family has discussed the fostering process and the impact that a younger child would have, and have agreed that a child placed with them would benefit from the commitment and support of the whole family. Richard and Andrew also form an integral part of their support network, as well as Grace’s sister, who lives locally, and Stephen’s parents, with whom they have telephone contact.
Grace and Stephen live in a large four-bedroomed detached house outside a major town. They are close to all amenities and both have their own cars. Grace works 20 hours a week as a part-time receptionist for the local NHS Trust, and Stephen is a quantity surveyor for a large multinational company. There is a very successful work and home arrangement in the couple’s life as Stephen works frequently away from home. This structure has been well sustained since they first got married, and Grace therefore managed the upbringing of their two children. Under these circumstances she has developed a superb support network over the years, and has a good selection of friends who are always willing to offer their input.
Grace and Stephen have abundant parenting skills. While understanding that any child placed with them would have had different life experiences to their own children, they are level headed and very clear about the demands on a foster carer. Their view and approach to the whole fostering process is about doing whatever is in the best interest of the child.
Having successfully parented two boys through their adolescence, Grace and Stephen have extensive hands-on experience of caring for teenagers. For younger children, aged up to five years old, Grace would give up her work in order to become a full-time carer. Grace and Stephen have the flexible ability to care for a child with different needs and medical issues. However, they understand their own limitations and would actively work with the agency to enhance their skills through training.
Ethnic and cultural descent: Grace: black African (Nigerian); Stephen: white British
Approval status: approved as a permanent foster carer for a child aged up to 17 years, preferably of mixed ethnicity
Area: central
For more information about this family, please email us and we will forward on your details to their social worker.
Last updated: 03 December 08
