“We always tell our children, they’re loved, and that tomorrow is a new day”

Embarking on her fostering journey with her partner around 14 years ago, Joanna felt she was in the need of a new adventure. With their children grown up and moved out, Joanna said: “We had done all the travelling and all the things we wanted to do. We had our own business, and fostering was something that I had thought about for a long time.

Initially providing respite care, this was when the couple first met one of their placements, *Joe and Tim*. With a history of being in and out of the care system, the couple were keen on looking after boys and fostering siblings. Joanna shared: “Perhaps it was because I had two young boys myself but soon after fostering, we realised we had a mutual connection with boys and the rest has been history.”

In Joanna’s experience, boys will be boys. Understanding first-hand how brothers live together, Joanna said: “With one of the boys having learning difficulties and a speech impediment, communication was difficult at times. Both did struggle to communicate their feelings and anger. Despite their own arguments, they equally clung to each other. It was like one couldn’t live without the other.”

After the young boys had experienced a failed adoption and their primary foster parent was retiring, Joanna and her partner, Steve, sat down and thought why not become their full-time foster parents. Joanna said: “At first, this placement tested our strengths and made us really consider if fostering was right for us but in the end, love conquers all and we came together as a family and managed to make it work for us.”

Over the course of a decade, Joanna has welcomed many children into their home. Looking back, Joanna shared that during the time of caring for siblings, she had also welcomed a mother and child placement into her home. Joanna said: “While it sometimes felt like a hotel, we were still one big family. For us, fostering provides us this new extended family unit. Our family has always treated our foster children the same as our own.”

A good support network makes a world of difference. Joanna said: “While there are many highs and lows of fostering, the support of my husband, FCA and my extended family and friends have bolstered me to become the best foster parents we could be.”

Teenage boys and siblings often have a stigma of being too hard to handle but for Joanna, this has only made the experience that more special.