Diagrama Fostering and Adoption at Kent County Show

The show runs for three days at the Detling Showground in Maidstone and attracts about 80,000 people who had to brave rain, thunder and lightning, strong winds before the sun made an appearance. What particularly made us smile, was the stand next to us promoting solar panels in the pouring rain!

There is a much-publicised shortage of foster carers for children in care, so my team and I hoped that attending this popular event would give us the opportunity to talk to a lot of people about the rewards of fostering.

With me over the three days were, Margaret, Nicky, Hannah. The team had thought about activities for children and our ‘name the Diagramasaurus’ competition to raise money for our September fostering picnic, was very popular.

The team also made the most of exploring the stands offering Kent’s home grown produce and we sampled and later bought wine, jams, honey and pickles. And our Fostering and Adoption Manager Margaret, purchased lots of accessories for her beloved dog Betty. We were also delighted to meet two colourful flowery puppet monsters, Daisy Daphne Lily-Rose and her boyfriend Kevin who I of course had to have my photo taken with.

Despite the unseasonal weather which plagued the event we did have some periods of sunshine and we spoke to hundreds of visitors about fostering and answered lots of questions from those who were interested in starting the foster care journey but were not sure where to start.

What we hadn’t anticipated was the number of people who came to talk to us about their own experiences of fostering and adopting.  There were some wonderful stories of lives that had been changed for the better and it was great to listen to the positive outcomes from those who were fostering or had been fostered.

We all came away with lots of new connections and long lists of follow ups from couples, families and singles who were interested in taking the next steps.

The show was exhausting but so very worthwhile. We spoke to many potential foster carers and introduced people to what a small not -for-profits fostering and adoption agency can offer.

Kate.