'I've fulfilled my late mum's wish and become a foster carer'

Inspired by her mum, this also became Gemma's dream, and after losing both her parents she decided to start her fostering journey.

Gemma started out as a single carer and welcomed a sibling group into her home who were about to be separated.

She said: 

"My mum put the idea in my head and it was just a lightbulb moment really.

"It was about a year after she died that I started doing the training. Two days after I passed the training I received a call asking if I could take in two brothers and their sister.

"I thought I would start by taking in one child and I ended up with three. But they were going to be separated if they didn't come here and that really tugged on my heartstrings, the fact that they might not have seen each other.

"My youngest child told her social worker that I had saved her life. That itself means more than anything, that a child would think that of you."

Gemma now has a partner, Dale, who has also become a foster carer to the siblings, and they joined the Mockingbird programme together.

A group of fostering families were brought together to form the first constellation in Lancashire in September 2024, with Gemma and Dale taking on the role of hub home carers.

This means the couple support the others and often open their home up for play dates and catch ups.

Dale said: 

"I decided to become a foster carer after watching Gemma every day and seeing what she does, how the kids react. They just want a family life. A couple of them call us mum and dad and it's really rewarding.

"I'm the fun one so I play games and play with the kids when they come here, I'm the joker of the family.

"It's always a busy house and that's what we want to be like, with the kids having fun, having a laugh. When there's no children here and it's a quiet house we don't like it."

Gemma and Dale often help with nursery and school runs for the constellation and can also look after children of other foster carers if they need a break or some extra support.

Gemma said: 

"One family in the constellation looks after a child with additional needs, but when her relative became extremely ill we were able to take over their care temporarily. This enabled her to spend time with her relative as we could help with the child's care.

"Sadly, she lost her family member, but she messaged to thank us for allowing her to spend time with him before he passed away."

The constellation meets up at least once a month, and Gemma says it's working well:

"I've really enjoyed being part of this and they're a great bunch, both the carers and the children. The children look forward to seeing each other and playing and it's nice for them to have different social groups. Two of the younger ones even call me Auntie Gemma.

"It was perfect timing Mockingbird being launched as we've helped so many people. Things have unexpectedly come up and without Mockingbird they wouldn’t have had that extra support.

"Some of the other foster carers have said it's nice to talk to other people who understand exactly what we're going through, who get it.

"We also have lots of days out and we have been talking about going on a camping trip together."

County Councillor Cosima Towneley, cabinet member for Children and Families at Lancashire County Council said: 

"It is inspiring to see Gemma fulfilling her mother's wishes of becoming a foster carer. Both her and Dale have made an enormous difference to the lives of the children in their care.

"The constellation is working splendidly in Lancashire with participating members becoming an extension of the foster care family for the children.  They meet up regularly so the children get to make friends and the foster carers can socialise and share experiences.

"Our foster carers are important and essential members of the team and, along with our staff, Mockingbird is a formidable addition to our foster care family initiatives."

If you're thinking about fostering get in touch with our friendly team on 0300 019 0200, or you can find more information here: Fostering for Lancashire - Lancashire County Council