Source: City of Portsmouth
The Foster Portsmouth team and ‘Steve’ the seagull completed a first last week with an exciting tuk tuk tour of Southsea seafront.
The tour, on Thursday 10 October, took in a number of local businesses along Southsea seafront who offered support in raising vital awareness of the need for additional foster carers in the Portsmouth area.
These included the Coffee Cup, BH Live’s Pyramids and Hover Travel at Clarence Esplanade, and Hotwalls Studios and ‘The Canteen‘ in Broad Street.
The eye-catching, all-electric and environmentally friendly rickshaw tuk tuk, which was funded by the Arts Council England as part of its Libraries Improvement Fund, usually tours the city with a small collection of books available to browse and borrow.
Foster Portsmouth was thrilled to be able to utilise the tuk tuk on one of its days off to showcase our mission to find more loving foster homes for the city’s vulnerable children and young people.
Cllr Suzy Horton, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education at Portsmouth City Council, said:
“This tour is another great way of utilising our libraries’ tuk tuk. It is vital that we continue to draw attention to the need for additional foster carers in the Portsmouth area, and what better way than ‘Steve’ the seagull taking a tour with the Foster Portsmouth team along our city’s seafront.”
“I’d like to thank the five local businesses who have jumped on board our tuk tuk tour and allowed us to raise the profile of children from our city who find themselves in need of a loving home.”
The tour provided an opportunity for those in and around Southsea to discover more about the rewards fostering can bring, and to get answers to any questions they may have from our experienced team.
We need more foster carers from diverse backgrounds. Anyone aged 21+ with a spare bedroom could foster with Foster Portsmouth regardless of their age, gender, faith, ethnicity, sexuality, marital or work status, or whether they rent or own their own home.
Our foster carers come from Portsmouth itself or the immediate surrounding areas, from Emsworth and Rowlands Castle to Gosport and Fareham, and Waterlooville and Petersfield to Havant and Hayling Island.
Our foster carers come from all walks of life, and they all share the same commitment and motivation to make a positive difference to a child’s life. This could be a short or long-term arrangement for a child, young person or siblings until they’re ready to live independently or are able to go home, support for children seeking asylum or children with a disability, supported lodgings to develop their independent living skills, a parent and baby placement, or respite care.
Foster carers receive excellent, local training and 24/7 support, including through our pioneering Mockingbird Programme support network and mentoring scheme, and competitive fees and allowances.
To enquire about fostering with Foster Portsmouth, or to arrange a 1:1 with one of our experienced team or existing foster carers, please fill in our contact form at http://www.foster.portsmouth.gov.uk/enquire-now, call 0300 1312797 or email info@lafosteringse.org.uk.