News
15.08.07
Caerphilly foster carer wins top award for 'day job'
Police Community Officer, PC Joe Griffiths, has become living proof that you can combine a successful career with a happy, fulfilling home life as a foster carer.
At a recent ceremony hosted by Gwent Police in Cwmbran, PC Joe Griffiths, was awarded the title of 'Community Officer of the Year' by Mike Tonge the Chief Constable of Gwent Police. PC Griffiths works with young people who are often in trouble through anti-social behaviour. He will now join 43 other regional winners at the national finals held in London in November.
Joe and his wife Eira have welcomed over thirty children into their home over the past 8 years. The couple are approved to foster sibling groups and children over the age of 10. They currently foster 3 children.
The council is currently finding it difficult to find carers who will foster children over the age of 10. The general perception is that older children can be harder to care for than younger ones, but Joe is keen to prove otherwise.
He says: "Fostering older children can be easier, because you can explain things to them and they understand. Younger children often don't understand and sometimes that can be very hard and even upsetting at times. Every child is an individual with individual needs, age is not a factor."
To help him get the most out of his experience as a carer, Joe attends many of the training courses that are available to foster carers.
He says: "As my knowledge grows so does my confidence. There are lots of different courses available and I have learned so much from them. The training is particularly useful to me, as I can apply a lot of what I have learned to help young people in my job as a police officer."
If Joe wins the national prize of Community Officer of the Year in November, he plans on using the £3,000 bursary prize money to visit police teams in Canada. He hopes learn from teams there who have excellent results (over 60%) of young people not re-offending.
If you are interested in fostering, please contact the Family Placement Team on 0800 587 5664.
E-mail us: fostering@caerphilly.gov.uk