This June, we celebrated the Outstanding Contribution to Fostering Awards in honour of foster carer Ken Mason.
Our supervising social workers nominated foster carers that have gone above and beyond for the children they care for.
Nominees must epitomise the following qualities:
- Inspire others
- Able to build positive professional relationships, with colleagues and co-professionals, with mutual respect
- Demonstrated a positive commitment to self-development and training
- Child-focused and promotes positive outcomes for children
- Fair-minded and balanced in their approach, and works in an anti-oppressive manner
Due to Covid-19, we were unable to hold the awards ceremony for the last two years. It was fantastic to have a small group of our foster carers together again this year. And as you can imagine, there were many nominations for the Ken Mason awards!
Who is Ken Mason?
Ken Mason was a foster carer in RCT, alongside his wife Yvonne, for over 40 years. During that time, they looked after many children and created brighter futures for them, even in the most challenging of situations. Ken and Yvonne worked alongside social workers and other co-professionals in a positive, child-focused manner. They developed excellent relationships with the children in their care and the team around them. This in turn, helped prevent these young people from transitioning into a self-destructive adulthood.
Ken sadly passed away in ____ but his legacy is still very much alive! We spoke with Yvonne who said:
“Ken was so proud when Ann [social worker] visited and told us that they would present the award in Ken’s name. I am so pleased that it is still being presented in honour of his memory.
We fostered for 40 years and were fortunate enough to have good social workers that supported us as well as the children in our care.
With the right support and encouragement, we’ve always believed children in care CAN achieve.”
“We cared for 2 brothers; one is now the owner of his own building company, and his brother is an electrical engineer. The last child we fostered, and who is still living with me, has just qualified from University with a nursing degree.”
Yvonne also kindly shared a photo of Ken with Iris Williams – a singer who was also in foster care herself. She came to a meeting with foster carers to share her experiences of being in care. Again showcasing Ken’s passion of being involved in the foster care community.
Ken’s outstanding contribution to fostering inspired us to hold the annual Outstanding Contribution to Fostering Awards ceremony to celebrate our foster carers in RCT.
Outstanding Contribution to fostering award winner 2021
The supervising social workers submit many nominations. These were anonymised and shared with a panel who were asked to judge the entries on the above criteria.
Our 2021 Ken Mason Outstanding Contribution to fostering Award Winner was Maria!
Maria is an absolute inspiration to us all. She takes everything in her stride, and although there are challenging moments, her experience and good-nature is a blessing for those she cares for.
We caught up with Maria after the event and she shared the following:
“I am happy to have been nominated, and really pleased to have won the award.
I decided to foster because I had become a single mother and it was something I could do whilst bringing up my own two children. The process to becoming a foster carer was understandably long and thorough when I started fostering 20 years ago.”
[for more information about the process of becoming a foster carer now, have a read of Foster Wales Swansea’s blog about the process of becoming a foster carer].
“I started by fostering new-borns, babies addicted to drugs and alcohol. It was very difficult to say goodbye when they moved onto adoption, but as time goes on you learn to deal with it in a better way. I then trained and was assessed to care for parent and babies, and eventually teenagers.
My experience of fostering has been very positive. We’ve had some challenging times – in particular since transitioning from fostering babies for 15 years, to fostering teenagers. The parent and baby I foster brings more challenges, but it’s extremely rewarding knowing I can support the baby to stay with it’s birth parent in this way.
I’ve only ever considered working for RCT as it is my local authority, rather than a private agency. I wouldn’t change the relationships I’ve built, and support I receive with Foster Wales RCT.”
Outstanding Contribution to fostering award winners 2022
Our 2022 Ken Mason Outstanding Contribution to fostering Award Winners were Tyrone and Graham!
After adopting their son in 2013, Tyrone and Graham applied to become foster carers in more recent years. We’re incredibly lucky to have them as part of our team. The love they give is exemplary, and undoubtedly helps build better futures for the children in their care.
Foster with us, your local authority in RCT
These are only a few of the wonderful stories we could share about our foster carers. Each and every one has their own journey of fostering, and each and every one is appreciated and valued by Foster Wales RCT.
Take a look at our ‘who can foster’ page to find out more information. If hearing about the Outstanding Contribution to Fostering Awards has inspired you and you’re ready to take your first step with us, please fill in our enquiry form on our contact us page.
If you live in Wales, visit the Foster Wales website where you can find all the information and contact your local authority service.
We look forward to hearing from you!
