A DREGHORN couple who have provided a home to vulnerable children for almost 40 years have been named as North Ayrshire’s longest-serving foster carers.

In fact, the inspirational couple have helped so many children, Jean has lost count.

She said: “Hundreds - it has been hundreds.

“Some have only stayed for a few weeks and some have stayed for a long time, maybe seven or eight years, although the average is actually about two or three years.

“You always hope that things will work out for them and they can go back to their own parents because that’s where they want to be but, sadly, sometimes being with their own parents isn’t always the best place for them.”

Jean and husband Bruce first became carers not long after they were married and are now, amazingly in their 39th year of providing foster care – making them among the longest-serving foster carers in Scotland.

The couple are now sharing their life-changing experiences to help promote Fostering Fortnight, a national campaign which runs until Sunday to encourage a diverse range of people with the right skills and qualities to foster.

There is currently a shortage of foster carers in North Ayrshire – a problem shared across the UK with recent figures suggesting thousands more carers are needed.

Jean and Bruce are just two of the carers helping more than 170 children across North Ayrshire currently in foster placements.

Jean in particular was inspired to help youngsters having found herself in care when she was a young girl.

“To begin with, I was fostered myself when I was younger. And I thought I would like to help children the way I had been helped, even after I had my own children,” said Jean.

“I have always believed that because I was fostered myself, it gave me an awful lot of opportunities in life that I would never have had otherwise.

“Going into foster care, I was in a children’s home first – it wasn’t a unit in those days – in Dunoon and then I got fostered out and I stayed in Rothesay.

“In those days, you were taken bag and baggage. You never knew who you were going to or where you were going to and what they were like. It was just, ‘there you go’ and that was it. But thankfully, it’s changed tremendously now, for the better.”

Jean and Bruce fostered even though they had two children themselves, Steven and Michelle. In fact, their own children – who are now grown up – took on a key role when frightened foster children came to stay. Many of the children became friends and still return to the house that became their temporary home from home.

“Some children will arrive with no intention of co-operating - they want to go back to their own parents and forget they were ever in foster care,” said Jean. “Even though you have treated them well, a lot of them just want to be accepted by their parents again.

“Some of them have come and sat in this living room and thought they were only coming for a couple of weeks. One girl was here for seven years and one boy stayed eight-and-a-half years and they both thought they were coming to stay for a wee while.

“The girl still comes back to visit and she now brings her own three children with her.”

There have been many ups and downs over the past four decades but there is no doubt that the good has definitely outweighed the bad for Jean and Bruce – even if the best moments are sometimes bittersweet.

“When it’s time for the child to go home, you wave them a fond farewell and then you go in to the house for a few tears,” said Jean.

“It’s very rewarding knowing you have helped so many children. It can be very upsetting when it is time for them to move on but they bring you so much happiness at the same time.

“It’s difficult to put into words how much satisfaction you get. I think it’s a case of knowing that you’ve helped at a time of family upheaval.

“To my mind, if I take the kids to stay here then it means the parents are given a bit of space to get their lives on track again. And, hopefully, they will do things right and the children can return home. Because that’s where they want to be and that’s where they will be happiest.

“It can be challenging but at the same time you have stepped in and tried to help.

“It alters your lifestyle. Because a lot of your focus is on the wellbeing, physically and emotionally, of the children in your care.

“On the first night a child arrives, they are just getting used to who everybody is. I’ll go to their room and ask if they’re okay and if they want a wee hug. If they say ‘yes’ then I’ll give them a wee hug and if they say ‘no, I’m only used to my mammy hugging me’, then that’s fine too. You have to see things from the children’s point of view.

“You just have to be there for them. The children have to realise that this is a safe place for them to be.

Jean added: “Some might come in here and think it’s you that’s keeping them away from mammy or daddy but, through time, they realise that’s not the case.

“It’s been a privilege to have cared for the children we’ve looked after. They’ve been wonderful. And they come to trust you to a certain degree; they depend on you and that gives you the feel-good factor.”

Councillor Anthea Dickson, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care, said: “Jean and Bruce have made a real difference to the lives of these vulnerable children. They, and all our other fantastic foster carers, deserve huge credit for the dedication they show to the children in their care.

“It takes special people to become foster carers and we’d urge anyone who thinks they have those specials skills to get in touch and follow in their footsteps.”

Across North Ayrshire, new carers are needed to offer care and support to children and young people, who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in need of a fostering placement.

A full package of support is provided for foster carers including financial help, training, support groups, a supervising social worker and membership of the Fostering Network.

Contact the North Ayrshire Fostering team on 01294 311505 or go to the foster caring section at www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk