Shannon, Debra and Steven's long-term fostering story

Steven: Most children that have come here, I think we've changed them somewhere along their life.

Debra: It's a lovely feeling when you see them actually start to relax and start to enjoy themselves.

Shannon: If I hadn't found Deborah and Steven, I don't think I'd be where I am now. Because it's not a nice way to live the way I was living. I've had social services involved in my life since I was two, it's been rocky at home. It was surrounded by violence, and that was just what I was accustomed to. That was just the normal for me. I first went into care when I was 13, and I went back home. It didn't work out again, same story, and then I came here as an emergency. It was only meant to be a one day emergency, and I've been here for three years now. I haven't left since.

Steven: Shannon's background was just purely neglect. She's the oldest, and she was kind of left to look after all her siblings, and she was left at home. That's why she didn't go to school, to look after the children. So when she came to us, she just looked lost.

Debra: She couldn't get to grips with the home situation. She wasn't used to people being at home, people being there for her, so it took her a while to actually stay in the house.

Shannon: It was a bit scary at first, because I'd been in foster care previously, but it wasn't the same experience I've had now. They understood that I wasn't necessarily going to be like the normal 15 year old. I had a few issues. I just thought I'd been let down so many times that it was going to happen again. It was just, yeah, very chaotic.

Debra: Once you can get that trust with them, it's difficult, but the trust does come and they open up that absolutely there's so much out there for them. A lot of people shy away from the teenagers in foster care because they come with a lot of excess baggage, but they just need someone to listen to them, someone to sound off on.

Steven: So that's why we guide them, not push them. We guide them and help them. We don't, we don't judge them.

Debra: They just need a safe environment, somewhere where they feel safe.

Shannon: I wasn't cared for at home, but I came here and Deborah taught me, if I want a good life, I was gonna have to go at school, and I've never missed a day since.

Debra: And it's lovely to see them flourish.

Shannon: It inspires me to do so much like I'm doing a level three Travel and Tourism (course) now. I want to progress on to university to do the management side and hopefully find a good career.

Debra: And seeing Shannon pass her exams and get a merit on the first of first exam results of college, I think that was I was so proud of her for that.