A Newton Aycliffe fostering agency has celebrated the achievements of its foster carers, including one couple who are retiring after fostering many children and adopting sixteen youngsters.
Reach Out Care Fostering Services held their annual afternoon tea awards ceremony at Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield.
“We like to recognise the individual achievements of every foster carer, every birth child and every foster child,” said manager Lynne Brown. “Ofsted rated us as outstanding in our recent inspection and a huge part of that is down to the enthusiasm and expertise of our fostering families.”
Dave and Diane Griffiths, from Darlington, are retiring after a 22-year fostering career. They have been with Reach Out Care, which also has offices in Billingham, for seven years.
“We didn’t start to foster until our own two children were grown up – I was late 40’s and Dave was in his early 50’s,” said Diane.
“We actually adopted a sibling group of six – we just about emptied one of the children’s homes in the area. There was one little girl left – she was not related to the others and we always felt for her. We saw an article about her three years later and adopted her too.
“We then went on to adopt another sibling group of four but we have fostered many, children and also had several mother and baby placements. We have enjoyed a sometimes challenging but rewarding career as foster carers.”
Peter and Karen Weaver, from Newton Aycliffe, received a ten year foster carer service award and Lorraine McAloon, one of the agency’s social workers, also received a ten year service award.
“I started out as a foster carer with Reach Out Care, then became a support worker, then a fostering officer in the team and the company supported me to fulfil my dream of becoming social worker,” said Lorraine.
The agency is the only one in the region to have Investors in People Gold accreditation.
left to right: Directors Derek and Dot Butler, Dave and Diane Griffiths, Peter and Karen Weaver, fostering manager Lynne Brown and social worker Lorraine McAloon
