Foster Dad celebrates Fathers Day
Posted:8th June 2008
Local Dad Rod Laird is looking forward to celebrating Father’s Day with a twist this year. With two grown-up children, he and wife Gail are looking forward to having young children in the house all over again this Father’s Day.
The 58 year old from Corby has been with leading UK Fostering Agency Pathway Care for a year and a half and has since looked after eight youngsters; ranging from respite to full time care. He and Gail now care for six year-old Jenny. Running his business from home means Rod has much more free time to devote to foster care, while wife Gail has an extensive background in caring and encouraged Rod to take up fostering.
The experience has been such a positive one that Rod’s natural son is currently applying to become a foster carer and Rod and Gail are taking courses in play therapy. He said “There’s so many positive things you can achieve as a foster carer and the enthusiasm is definitely catching”.
Kathy Swift, Pathway’s East of England director, said: “Foster carers offer an invaluable service helping children and young people from difficult backgrounds to rebuild their lives for the better and there’s a real need for Fostering Dads. “While the motivation for becoming a foster carer should always be a desire to help vulnerable children, more and more people are recognising the benefits a career in fostering can offer such as flexible working, a structured career path, training and a competitive salary. “There are a wide variety of fostering roles. For instance, we need foster carers to look after mothers and their babies, sibling groups, lone babies, young children and teenagers. We are also looking for foster carers from mixed-race and ethnic minority backgrounds,” she added.
Rod added; “My experience of fostering has been utterly rewarding. From helping them improve their reading through to improving confidence and getting them to open up – it’s a slow process but so worthwhile”.
Rod & Gail Laird 
from Corby