Pauline

Pauline is a foster carer and a classroom assistant. She has been fostering for 15 years:

"The most challenging part for me is trying to support these children when they first arrive as they are often quite traumatised. There are so many rewards when a child realises that they are safe. When a child in my care is making progress sometimes the steps are so tiny even I don't recognise it and it takes maybe their social worker or my supervising social worker to point this out to me, and it's very rewarding when I'm told, "Remember what this child was like this time last year?"

"I've got a little boy who's staying with me. He's been with me two years now and he's 14. When he came to me he'd had no schooling at all. I went to his parents evening on Thursday and it was just amazing. The results were amazing and I was bragging about this child because he's progressed so far."