Foster carers from across Bradford were today being honoured at a special civic reception to recognise their efforts. MIKE WAITES spoke to two couples who have welcomed hundreds of youngsters into their homes

When Joan Dixon and her husband Michael began fostering children more than 20 years ago drug taking and alcohol abuse among the young were hardly top of their concerns.

Often children came to their home in Clayton, Bradford, for a few nights or weeks because of neglect or because mum was in hospital.

Nowadays common problems facing youngsters include sex abuse, trouble with the law or drug taking.

The couple initially wanted to adopt a little girl and took up fostering while waiting to get approval, but in fact the first child they took in to their home, 18-month-old Susan, became their daughter after they had looked after her for several years.

At first they dealt with mainly younger children who matched the age of their two sons Keith and Carl but later dealt with teenage youngsters and for the last eight years have been emergency carers working mainly with adolescents.

Mrs Dixon, 54, said she had fostered hundreds of children over the years.

Her involvement had opened her eyes to the torments some children faced but it made her more convinced than ever about the value of the fostering service.

"When we first started I should think about a quarter of the children we had were because mum was in hospital or because she was a single parent who wasn't coping very well and needed a break," she said.

"Child abuse just wasn't talked about although it went on, and while many foster carers could tell children had suffered abuse of some description, they came into care for other reasons such as physical neglect."

She said today's children had a whole range of problems presenting real behavioural difficulties which had to be coped with not just by foster parents but the whole family.

"To some degree all children who come into care by the fact they are coming into care must have some residual damage," she said.

"Many of the younger children present real behaviour difficulties due to previous abuse and often need a great deal of attention.

"Their behaviour can be very extreme, from being totally uninterested to having the screaming ab-dabs every time they look at you.

"The older ones often get into trouble with the police, while some go missing.

"It really does open your eyes. It would be wrong of me to say I could not be shocked but it would now take something very, very out of the ordinary to do that."

Mrs Dixon added: "The majority of people just don't know how the other half lives.

"You see programmes on TV or read articles about 12-year-olds on the streets being pimped and taking drugs and think things are never really that bad, but I know different - I know it is exactly that bad and that some of these children never stand a chance.

"It is an effort and you have to have strategies of coping otherwise it can cause friction between you, but if we do have a problem with a child my husband and I sometimes spend quite a long time working something out together before we start tackling it.

"I can honestly say I can look back and not change a thing because the satisfactions and rewards far outweigh the bad times."

She said she was still in contact with some of the young people she fostered 15 or 20 years ago.

"They invite us to their weddings, bring their children to see us, ring me up from hospital when they have had babies," she said.

"It's a job but a very special one although it doesn't take very special people.

"It just needs people who like young people and can look past their behaviour at the causes.

"We all like to think we could leave something behind, and this is certainly one way of doing it."

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