Joey has worked at The Fostering Network for over two years as part of the Fostering Wellbeing Project, alongside more than a decade of experience as a foster carer with his wife, Helen, and their two teenage sons. He is one of many people within the organisation who bring lived experience into their professional role.
Joey and Helen became foster carers 12 years ago while he was working as a secondary school teacher. Like many carers, fostering was already part of his family story: his own parents fostered for decades.
As a child, Joey remembers how difficult it could be to share his parents’ attention and to witness the challenges experienced by children coming into their home. As an adult, however, he understood the significance of what his parents had done, the care they had given, and the lives they had changed - and knew it was something he wanted for his own family.
“Helen also comes from a big family, so a busy house full of people and children felt completely natural to us. That’s the home we wanted to build. We have been so blessed by the wonderful children who have been - and remain - part of our family over the last 12 years", Joey says.
“It’s a privilege to be a foster carer,” he adds. “It’s the thing we’re most proud of - the children we’ve cared for, the relationships we still have with them and their families, with adopters, and with other foster carers through the years. Seeing children thrive in safe, loving homes means everything.”
The Fostering Wellbeing Programme
Joey now brings those years of hands-on experience into his role with the Fostering Wellbeing Programme, funded by the Welsh Government. The programme strengthens partnership working across the whole team around a child - including foster carers, kinship carers, social workers, and education and health professionals - with the clear goal of improving wellbeing outcomes for children and young people.
The programme delivers Fostering Wellbeing Masterclasses, helping the team around the child develop trauma-informed approaches that place children’s emotional wellbeing at the centre of care. It also equips foster and kinship carers to influence and improve fostering across Wales through the Fostering Pioneers - a growing movement of carers who use their experience to support services by supporting other carers, recruiting new carers, and acting as a voice for positive change.
Joey also hosts the Fostering Pioneer Podcast, which shares stories from the work of the Pioneers across Wales.
Bringing lived experience
Because he is both a foster carer and an educator, Joey brings a high level of credibility and understanding to everything he does.
“Fostering is hard,” he says. “There are regular challenges. Too often foster carers are not treated as equal members of the professional team. I’ve experienced that - meetings set up for ‘the professionals’ where carers are excluded. And I know the damage that does, both to carers and to children.”
Joey is clear about what needs to change if fostering is to truly put children first. At the heart of this is how adults work together.
“As a fostering community - whether we’re foster carers, kinship carers, social workers, teachers, or nurses - we need to truly work as a team, to communicate well, and to disagree well,” he explains.
“We need to support one another, encourage one another, and model healthy relationships for the children we all want the best for.”
“In any relationship there will be ruptures. People get things wrong. People get offended. People have different ideas. But strong teams are built on repair - on coming back together, learning, and becoming more resilient. That’s how children experience safety.”
Just as important, Joey believes, is how foster carers are valued.
“Foster carers are on the front line. They are the stability in a child’s life. They are the difference. If their status is genuinely elevated — not as a token gesture, but with real respect, recognition, and support — they are more confident, more empowered, and better able to provide the care children need.”
Building memories
When asked about one of his fondest memories as a foster carer, it doesn’t take Joey long to respond. It is a moment that reflects both the challenges and rewards of fostering. He looks back to Christmas 2023, when he and his family had the opportunity to travel to Southeast Asia to transition two young siblings into the care of their grandparents.
“It was a privilege,” he reflects. “Making sure those children were safe and supported, and seeing them settle with their grandparents - it was incredibly moving. We’re still in touch, and we hope to visit again in the future.”
“I meet many people who, in very difficult circumstances, step up to care for children in their families - grandparents who shelve their retirement plans to provide safety and love to their grandchildren, or an aunt who completely changes her life to care for her nephew. These are incredible people.”
Joey’s journey is a powerful reminder of the impact foster carers can have - not just on the lives of children and young people, but on the wider fostering community. Through his work on the Fostering Wellbeing Programme and his own lived experience, Joey continues to champion collaboration, respect, and positive change.
