At 22 years old, Natalie Wainwright became one of the youngest people in the country to be a foster carer 

After months of intense assessment, Natalie Wainwright sat before a panel of eight people, anxiously waiting to hear the unanimous “yes” she’d been praying for.

Despite her growing anticipation, nothing could have prepared her for the paradoxical love and heartbreak that lay before her. 

It felt like everything was building up to that day, she said softly, recalling the moment that would come to mark her life in more ways than one.

The process leading up to this point had pulled Natalie in many directions, often causing her to lose her footing. At times, it was tiresome and consuming. Many wouldn’t understand, others would raise eyebrows, and some would say she was giving up too much.

She had come a long way, but her story was only just beginning. 

At 22 years old, Natalie, born and raised in the small seaside town of Worthing, West Sussex, became one of the youngest people in the UK to be a foster carer. 

For those who know her, the trajectory she has chosen for her life, though wildly unconventional, is no surprise at all. Tender of heart and with a disposition speaking of a wisdom well beyond her years, it’s clear to see she was made for motherhood. Somehow, it’s in her nature - perhaps the warmth of her voice gives her away.

Looking back on the unfolding chapters of her story, Natalie spoke of her time visiting rural East Africa during her summer breaks. For her, these experiences stand out as significant milestones on the road to becoming who she is today.

In 2015, she travelled to a village in Rukungiri, Uganda where she volunteered with relief and development organisation, Tearfund. The following August, she packed her bags and set off to Nakuru, Kenya where she worked closely with local non-profit, Sure 24, which provides care and education for over 300 vulnerable children in the community. 

Hearing the stories of the children and their families who had experienced deep trauma as a result of abandonment, poverty and illness, an urgency to make a change stirred within her again.

Though separated by continent, culture and creed, she saw a common running thread.

She found the challenges faced by those she met overseas in many ways, naturally resembled the trauma experienced by the children she knew in the UK care system.

While different in many ways, they both shared in this injustice.

While continuing to actively support the positive work taking place in Rukungiri and Nakuru, Natalie’s mind kept coming back to the vulnerable people in her own community. 

Research by the Fostering Network suggests over 65,000 children live with almost 55,000 foster families across the UK each day. This is nearly 80% of the 83,000 children in care away from home on any one day in the UK. 

With around 30,000 more children coming into care over the course of 12 months and similar numbers leaving the care system to return home, move in with another family member, live with new adoptive families or become subject to special guardianship, thousands of new foster families are needed each year. 

In the midst of the pandemic and as the number of children requiring care in the UK began to surge, British non-profit, Barnardo’s, declared a state of emergency in June 2020. According to the charity, the number of children needing foster care rose by 44% during the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the number of people looking to become foster parents plummeted by nearly half compared to the same period last year.

The charity believes that lockdown has increased pressure on vulnerable families with deepening poverty, job losses and worsening mental health, unfortunately all leading to family breakdown. In an interview for the Guardian, Barnardo’s chief executive, Javed Khan explained, “The coronavirus pandemic has hit vulnerable families the hardest, with many reaching crisis point.” As a result, children have been in lockdown in homes where domestic and sexual abuse are taking place.  

In a bid to inspire more people to become foster parents, Khan added, “Today, there are hundreds of children who have been referred to Barnardo’s and are waiting to be placed with a foster family. If you’re over 21, have a spare room and the time and commitment to support a child in need, please do consider getting in touch today.”

Though the average age of a foster carer in the UK is between 45 to 54, during the application process, Natalie explained she never experienced any apprehension from social services because of her age. 

“They were so much more interested in my reasons for wanting to foster, so it was really encouraging to me that they didn’t see my age as a barrier. They were really supportive” she said. 

Having recently moved out of her family home at the end of her first year of teaching, Natalie hadn’t been living alone for long. She continued, “I personally had a lot of fear about whether I could do it and whether I could deal with the challenges that would come my way. But I was really honest with the social worker about my worries, and she helped me work through them,” she said confidently. 

Despite the commonly asked questions about her plans from people around her, Natalie knew it was time to throw herself in the deep end. With worries that she was “putting limitations on herself” or “giving up her social life too soon”, she decided to put aside the opinions of others. 

She added, “I realised I could give power to my fears, or I could rise up and go ahead. What other people thought didn’t matter to me anymore.”