A Ceredigion foster carer is backing an urgent appeal for more carers.

Barnardo’s Cymru has issued an urgent appeal for more people to become foster parents following an increase of more than 400 per cent in the number of siblings needing to find homes together.

The children’s charity has been asked to find carers for 70 brothers and sisters in Wales in the last 12 months, up from just 13 the year before. Without more carers able to take more than one child there is a danger siblings will be split up. For Bridget Davies the secret to being a successful foster parent with Barnardo’s Cymru is never losing the sense of fun and wonder of being a child.

Turning a walk in the woods into a Harry Potter adventure or a trip to the beach into a search for pirate treasure can help a foster child begin to relax in their new home and learn to trust her. So despite being in her 60s she’s not afraid to skip along the beach or balance on a log as she builds a relationship with a foster child who may have never learnt to play or socialise before they arrive on her doorstep in rural Ceredigion.

The retired nurse and grandmother has always loved filling her home with children and when a nursing colleague suggested giving fostering a try she discovered a second vocation. She said: “I absolutely love it. The children I’ve had have been awesome and seeing the changes in them has been so rewarding. In fact rewarding doesn’t begin to describe the feeling when you witness those special moments.” To find out more about fostering, visit barnardos.org.uk.