Foster carer's 'shock to the system' over MBE news

A foster carer admits it was a shock to find out she would be made an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours.

Mother-of-three Satbinder Bains, 57, from Willenhall in Walsall, said about 30-plus children had come through her home over nearly 19 years.

The foster carer for City of Wolverhampton Council explained she was a full-time mum when her sister suggested giving "something back to the community and... [doing] fostering".

Bains said her son nominated her for the honour and it was "a shock to the system, me just being a normal working class person getting an MBE".

Asked whether saying goodbye was the hardest part of the job, she replied: "The very first child I [fostered in] 2008... 12 months having that child from birth was the hardest thing in my life, it was like having a frog in my throat and giving that child away to somebody.

"But when the adopters came, they're in your house for about two weeks bonding with this child and then you see that love that [they're] giving."

The foster carer has looked after children that have experienced neglect and "parental substance misuse", or had parents who "couldn't look after them maybe due to mental health", but Bains has seen such children "thrive".

"I've seen the nourishment, the love, not just from myself, from my children, my husband," she said.

Of the latter, praising his patience, she added he had "dealt with children that have had convulsions, children that have started choking and he knows exactly what to do".

Bains said she was receiving the honour on behalf of the whole Asian community, her husband and her children.

"Most of all I receive it on behalf of all those children that have come in my care," she said.

"I am proud to have been their foster mum and I'm proud of how they are thriving today and how I've kept in touch with them, probably a majority of them... and their adopters."

As for her own children, they have graduated and supported their mother in her career.

"My fostering has made them the people they are today," she said.

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