• Foster Care Fortnight from June 1 to 14 is organised by the charity Fostering Network and aims to raise awareness about the need for more foster carers in the UK - encouraging a diverse range of people with the right qualities and skills to come forward to provide a loving and supportive home to children in care.

• Fostering Network says 8,370 carers are needed in the UK (910 in the West Midlands) this year alone to care for a range of children. The highest demand for foster carers is for older children, sibling groups and disabled children.

KEVIN and Jasmina Boreham have been fostering babies and toddlers for about six years and they would not have it any other way.

While some people tell them they must be special to be foster carers, Kevin reveals: “We get all the fun parts without the pregnancy bit. We see them when they first smile and take their first steps.”

The couple, who live in St Peter’s, Worcester, had their son Ben later in life and had wanted another child but, when this didn’t happen, they turned their thoughts to adoption and then fostering.

Kevin, aged 55, says: “Jasmina had been a looked after child and still has a close relationship with her foster parents – so close in fact that Ben sees them as his grandparents.

“We spoke to the fostering and adoption team at Worcestershire County Council and decided that fostering would allow us to help more than one child.”

The pair were approved as short-term carers with the council in 2009 and specified a preference for children from birth to aged three. So far they have fostered six children who have stayed with them between nine and 19 months – moving back home, into the guardianship of another member of their family or an adoption placement.

While Jasmina, aged 49, is the primary carer and does most of the day-to-day hands on care, Kevin plays a pivotal role as a support to his wife, son and the foster children.

Ben, now aged 11, also mucks in and helps with the fostered child, says Kevin. “Because we started this when Ben was four years old he sees it as normal – it is what we do.”

Just like having your own children, explains Kevin, being a foster parent can be stressful. “Looking after such young children can be stressful. Sleepless nights and the perceived endless crying and screaming can eventually get to anyone. At that point my role comes into its own, giving Jasmina some respite if only for 10 minutes.

“I also act as chauffeur, cook, bottle washer, adviser and on the odd occasion baby sitter so Jasmina can have time for herself.”

He said one of the children they fostered woke every two hours in the night wanting to be fed or needing comfort more or less every night she was with them. “After that Jasmina said she wanted a couple of weeks off and then we were ready to go straight back into it.”

Kevin is also an ambassador for fostering and encourages people to find out more about what is involved.

“If you are thinking of doing this you need to know there are things in your life that will change while they are with you. My wife and I do not go on foreign holidays any more. There is a lot of paperwork and arrangements to be made to take a foster child abroad so we don’t do it.

“Also you have to overlook the toys and other baby paraphernalia that are constantly scattered around the house and having to plan trips away with military precision. But this is just what everyone else has when they have their own children. We just get more practice.”

“People often comment saying we must be ‘special’ to be foster carers. But nothing could be further from the truth. We have no special powers nor do we live differently from anyone else. We are just ordinary people who believe in doing something to help others.

“Anyone can do it. We are not special in any way, shape or form. We are just normal people who open our door to struggling children.

“As a foster parent you need patience. The children have issues of some sort or another. You need perseverance and belief they can come round. There is nothing that can’t be overcome. All they are looking for is a bit of care, compassion and stability and if they have all those things they start to thrive. ”

Of course it is important to constantly bear in mind that any foster child will eventually be moving on. Kevin admits there was one adorable little girl who stayed with them for 18 months and he did feel a sense of loss when she moved on but his attention was soon focused on the next child needing their loving care.

“They come to us needing to be looked after, relying on us to keep them safe, warm and fed. During that time you are as close to that child as you can be without being a birth parent.

“But moving a child on, whether to birth family or a new family, provides a sense of achievement,” says Kevin.

He adds that one of the advantages of becoming a foster parent through Worcestershire County Council is the back up and support that is available for both the child and the carers.

If anyone has ever had an idea they want to know more about fostering they should get in touch with the county council for more information. “There are always other foster carers you can talk to as well,” he says.

Local authorities have a responsibility to find families who are able to care for children who need them. For more information contact Worcestershire County Council Fostering Service, County Hall Campus – Wildwood, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP, telephone 0800 028 2158, visit http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20028/adoption_and_fostering or email cs-adoptionandfostering@worcestershire.gov.uk

• More than a third of all children who left the looked after services in England returned home. However research show many of those who returned home suffered neglect and abuse and many return to the care system.

• The Government funded the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the University of Bristol to create guidance for councils on returning children home.

• Worcestershire County Council is one of nine local authorities selected to test the guidance and be evaluated by the University of Bristol.

• As part of this the county council is consulting its foster carers to find out more about their experiences about what works and what doesn’t. Barbara Carter, the council’s manager for fostering, says: “I see this as a great opportunity for us to contribute to developing good practice within children’s social care I know we can rise to the challenge.”

There are a number of independent fostering agencies across Worcestershire and details of these can be found on the Fostering Network website. Information about these can be found by visiting https://www.fostering.net/providers/ifp/midlands#.VWMKx0YYF8E