“I always wanted to foster, I love children, and I have the patience to listen. I was often a mother figure to my younger siblings. Family has always been important to us, and we were very close to each other growing up – we still are.”
Shakuntla Gittins, 72, has been a foster carer for the council since 2008 and has looked after more than 30 children in that time – from babies to teenagers.
She was encouraged to go into foster caring by her own mother, Pushpa, who herself was a foster carer in the borough for 20 years. Shakuntla, who has 2 grown-up children of her own, is currently fostering a 14 year-old girl, who moved in with her in February 2023, and the pair have plans to make this a long-term arrangement.
Ealing Council’s Foster Carer of the Year in 2017, Shakuntla was then awarded an MBE for services to children in 2020. She was presented her medal by Prince Charles, now King, at St James’s Palace in 2021, after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted.
Shakuntla’s first placement was 3 siblings, aged 10 and 12 years old and a 5-month old baby. They stayed with her and her son, who was 13 at the time, for nearly 2 years. Years later, when the eldest turned 18, they got back in touch with Shakuntla, after connecting with her son on Facebook.
She said: “It made me feel so good that they remembered me and appreciated what I did.”
Indeed, during the course of her foster caring career to date, there has been plenty of proud moments for Shakuntla.
Creating connections
“Some of the children who have stayed with me over the years have faced real hardship and difficult times,” she said. “I have had to work hard to break down barriers and to encourage them to open up and communicate with me. It isn’t an easy job, but it is very rewarding to know that you can have a positive influence on a young person’s life.”
Recalling a particular special moment, she added: “My young person came down out of blue with open arms for a hug, for the very first time, and I was taken aback. I said, ‘wow what’s happening here?’ and she said, ‘I just wanted to do that’. I hugged her back and said ‘lovely, I like that’.”
Support
Fostering households will receive a new package of support and rewards, to help recruit, and retain, more of the foster carers who do so much to improve the lives of children in care.
To enable foster carers to best support children, Ealing Council also provides an in-house therapeutic service offering targeted support, as well as facilitating support groups.
“The psychology service provides someone you can talk to and voice your fears and worries to and find support and answers – not judgement,” said Shakuntla.
She added: “And I’ve always been allocated a great social worker who offers support to myself and the children.
“I have a buddy too, a fellow carer, to share experiences with and meet for coffee. And we often get to meet other carers at events that the council holds.”
The council also hosts a monthly foster carer support group with a drop-in with the clinical psychologist and offers bitesize training sessions and other support. The psychology team also produces a foster carer newsletter that includes advice, support and resources around key topics such as exam stress, mental health or current affairs and how these may impact upon the wellbeing of children and young people in care.
“We also offer a therapeutic parenting programme to all of our foster carers. It’s a 6-week programme focusing on the impact of early life on children and young people’s wellbeing, ideas and approaches to parenting which focus on making sense of behaviour, supporting young people and providing a reflective space for our carers,” said Dr Alicia Fairhurst, lead clinical psychologist at the council.
Alicia added: “We want our foster carers to be the most skilled they can be and the most supported they can be, in the really important work that they do in caring for children.”
Interested in fostering?
For more information, email contact@fosteratwestlondon.org.uk, call freephone 0800 731 6550 or visit Ealing Council’s fostering website.
