Foster Portsmouth braved the thunderstorms alongside Fostering South East cluster partners Fostering Southampton and Hampshire County Council at UK Pride on Saturday 7 June.

Taking ‘Pride’ of place at the event is part of a campaign being run throughout June by Foster Portsmouth, Portsmouth City Council’s fostering service. Their team were also part of UK Pride and The Family Network’s LGBTQ+ Routes to Parenting event on 3 June, and they will be celebrating their foster carers from the LGBTQ+ community and taking action to bust myths around who can foster throughout Pride Month.

Foster Portsmouth, Fostering Southampton and Hampshire County Council’s fostering service joined forces at UK Pride with the aim to raise awareness of the national crisis in foster care and the need for more foster carers in the area.

They also engaged with event goers to tackle any perceptions that may prevent some from the LGBTQ+ community from exploring fostering to build a family life.

Anyone aged over 21 with a spare bedroom could foster – regardless of their age, gender, sexuality, faith, ethnicity, marital or work status, or whether they rent or own their own home.

Councillor Nick Dorrington, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education at Portsmouth City Council, said: Foster Portsmouth celebrates the diversity of our committed team of foster carers, and we are all proud to work with many individuals and couples from the LGBTQ+ community.

Foster Portsmouth’s presentation at the Parenting Network and UK Pride’s ‘LGBTQ+ Routes to Parenthood’ event helped identify pathways to parenthood within the LGBTQ+ community. Attendees were also offered expert insights, lived experiences and an opportunity to connect with community members and support networks.

This Pride Month, Foster Portsmouth also aims to shine a light on the incredible efforts of our existing LGBTQ+ foster carers and thank them for their contribution to the care of vulnerable children and young people in the city and the immediate surrounding areas. Foster carers like sole carer Michael.

Michael, a full-time IT project manager, fosters teens with Foster Portsmouth. He shared: Because I was fostered myself, I chose to become a foster carer rather than adopt. I had the same wonderful long-term carers who gave me amazing opportunities. I want to give something back to children who need care and stability in their lives.

Michael has fostered a number of teenagers, including providing respite care for a sibling pair and an emergency placement, and three longer-term arrangements for teenage boys, one of whom was a child seeking safety and asylum.

There have been many touching moments which makes it all worthwhile and lets me know that I’ve been a positive chapter in their story.

Foster Portsmouth are in need of additional foster carers with the skills and experience to help children develop a positive sense of their own identity, so they are asking individuals and couples in the LGBTQ+ community to consider the impact they could have on a child or young person’s life through fostering.

They would welcome the opportunity to explore if their close-knit fostering community at Foster Portsmouth would be the right fit for them.

To enquire or to arrange a 1:1 with Foster Portsmouth’s experienced team or existing foster carers, visit: www.foster.portsmouth.gov.uk, call 0300 1312797 or email info@lafosteringse.org.uk.