00:00Everyone loves a trip to the seaside and one foster carer in Medway wants to make these trips more common
00:07for children in foster care.
00:09Claire Bird owns the Lady Bird Hub, a small charity providing short breaks for foster kids in Medway and she
00:16does it all from a caravan in Sheppey.
00:18One day I came home and I said to my husband, I've just bought a caravan and I'm going to
00:24fill it full of children and I'm going to give them little holidays.
00:27And he said, why? And I said, because they need them. They need these little short breaks.
00:31And even if they just come down on park for a day, they can have these little mini adventures.
00:37Now, Claire has been a foster carer for 25 years, but has had this caravan for one year and she
00:42brings the kids here almost every single weekend.
00:45But now she's fundraising for another caravan because she wants to build a village, a community to stick with the
00:51Mockingbird ethos that it takes a village to raise a child.
00:54So this is just some of the comments that the children have put in the visitor's book.
01:01Now, Claire wants another caravan so she can build a community and take more foster kids on little holidays, with
01:09the aim for every foster child in Medway to have this experience.
01:13While on their short break, the foster kids take part in multiple activities, painting, pottery, swimming, even football by the
01:22River Thames.
01:23This is the kitchen. Kids are more than welcome to do their own cooking.
01:27So we've got some children's cooking equipment. We've got some children's cooking utensils.
01:33We've got a variety of plastic cups, plates and bowls.
01:37We also get the children to make their own cup or glass when they come here.
01:42So I buy them plain acrylic paints and they can decorate their own glass and they can take that home
01:48as a little memento.
01:49But the caravan acts as more than just a holiday.
01:53For many foster children, the caravan is a much needed space.
01:57He was quite angry, getting a little bit volatile.
02:00So I took him and did activities with him for a couple of days and I put the carers and
02:07the birth children here to have a break.
02:09Sometimes the child will think, well, I will reject you before you reject me and that becomes a vicious cycle.
02:17So by doing this, it improves placement stability.
02:23With the fostering system in Medway facing growing demands, will Claire be able to fund the village she believes the
02:29kids need?
02:30Naila Mohamed for KMTV in Sheppie.
Comments