A Milton Keynes and Chesham-based fostering agency has found safe and loving homes for nearly 50 children and young people, just in time for Christmas.

The therapeutic agency, ISP Fostering, is celebrating after 47 young people were placed with foster families in the month of December.

Sheryl Laker, former foster parent and current referrals manager at ISP, said: “I’m so proud of the team for their hard work in finding the right homes for these children. That’s 47 children who are comfortable and confident in the fact that on Christmas Eve, Santa knows where they are, that’s what we do it for.”

Emma and Ufuk are foster parents who were matched with a little boy last December. They have been fostering with ISP since October 2022 but started their fostering journey in 2014.

Emma said: “Our foster child joined us on the 19th December, so we’ve always called him our early Christmas present. He loved to go around saying to people “I’m the early Christmas present!” and I truly think he is as it’s really a gift to foster. You’re giving a young person a chance to do what they’re supposed to do and be who they’re supposed to be.

“They’re a gift and you’ve been given the honour of looking after a gift, it doesn’t always feel like that every day but you have. These children deserve a home and they deserve a safe space. That’s what our family and our home is, it’s a safe space.”

There are currently more than 80,000 children in care throughout the year, and that number is growing. It is estimated that an additional 3000 foster parents will need to be recruited year on year, for the next three years to accommodate the influx of children coming into care.

ISP Fostering is a UK leader in finding safe and loving foster homes for young people who have faced difficult and often turbulent childhoods. They take the time to match children with the right foster family and provide them with a high level of specialist therapeutic support that is tailored to their individual needs.

If you’d like to find out more about fostering with ISP in Sussex, please visit https://ispfostering.org.uk/