Patricia Swan was pottering around at home one day in 2022 when a radio broadcast changed the course of her life. “Normally, the radio is background noise, but when I heard a desperate callout for more foster carers in my local area, I had to do something,” she says. She was 75 at the time, so her next thought was: “I must be too old.” However, she looked into it immediately and, on finding there was no upper age limit, she and her husband put in an application.
Six months later, they were caring for a 17-month-old boy and his six-month-old sister.