Ken and Polly have four daughters, aged from twenty one down to nine. They also have a large extended family all over the world. So wouldn't you think they had enough family members to cope with, without fostering as well ......?

Nevertheless, says Polly, "we were very conscious of the number of black children who needed a home, and as an African-Caribbean family, we felt we could help a black child have a good upbringing and develop their identity". Thanks to the encouragement and only-a-telephone-chat-away help they got from PACT, they felt able to offer a long-term foster placement to a young African-Caribbean boy, Luke. The key for them was that they were not rushed into any decisions or stages of the process but "the lead-up to the placement, including the gradual introduction of Luke into our family, was extremely tiring, both mentally and physically". Then, when Luke arrived, he initially missed his previous home very much, and needed lots of reassurance.

In terms of the impact on the rest of the family, Ken and Polly's Nine year old did find it hard to adjust to a new "brother", which is why it was good that Polly's work was able to give her a few months off to settle everyone into new patterns of family life.