Many of us take for granted a stable loving home. We meet the people that open up their homes and hearts to those in need

There’s currently around 65,000 children living with fostering families in the UK – would you consider joining them and becoming a foster carer? “The level of neglect for all of the children is quite massive. People are under the illusion that social workers can just come along and take children away, but they can’t. Fostering is both a fantastic and awful job – I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I love the kids we work with, but it can be upsetting when you have to deal with the stories they come with. They just need some guidance and support, some space and some learning.”

These are the words of Karen who has been fostering for the past 25 years. Although we only spoke over the phone, her enthusiasm and warmth for her career bubbles through the speaker, and it’s obvious how passionate she is about the young people she works with. In fact, she’s lost count of the amount of children she’s fostered over the years and with three birth children who are now aged 21, 23 and 28, and four adopted children too, family is just second nature to her. It’s foster carers like her that the world so desperately needs more of.