6:20pm Friday 29th August 2008
By Siobhan Ryan
Tributes have been paid to a couple who fostered children for more than 16 years.
Mick and Simone Walker died within three weeks of each other after dedicating their lives to helping others.
The pair, who lived in Greenfield Crescent, Brighton, have left behind four children and one adopted teenage daughter, Stephanie.
They looked after many children and young people and specialised in “parent and baby” foster care – a particularly skilled type of fostering where support is given to an adult struggling to look after a child.
Clare Smith, the service manager of the Brighton and Hove Fostering Service, said: “They were strong advocates for all the children and young people they fostered.
“They were dedicated to the promotion of foster care and foster carers.
“Simone was one of the initial founders and then chairwoman of the Brighton and Hove Foster Care Association. She tirelessly contributed to improving understanding of foster care and foster carers, and used her experience to provide support and advice to other carers.
“Both Simone and Mick had a wonderful sense of humour. They will be missed by both the fostering service and their friends and colleagues in the foster care association.”
In 2004, Simone and Mick’s dedication to fostering was recognised and the couple were invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace.
In 2007, they were nominated for parents of the year at the annual Argus Achievement Awards.
Simone, 67, died following a sudden pulmonary embolism – a blockage in one of her lung’s blood vessels on June 22. Mick, also 67, died from cancer at the Martlets Hospice on July 11.
They had been married for 35 years. The couple took up fostering after reading an article in The Argus in 1991 asking for people to come forward and help a young mother and her child develop parenting skills.
Their first placement was a 17-year-old mother and her ten-month-old son.
He had been placed in foster care without his mother but moving in with the Walkers meant they could be together.
When they were nominated for the Argus Achievement award last year, Stephanie spoke about how much fostering meant to the couple.
She said: “Fostering has given us so many things.
“It just opens your life out. It is rewarding when you see the looks on their faces when you make them happy.
“We meet an awful lot of people and their families, and we have always had good social workers.
“It is about getting people turned around and if you can give them a chance they will be able to look back and know that we thought they were worthwhile.
“Without the facility they would have to be separated and that does not give them a chance.
“Quite a few people have gone out of here with their babies into the community, which they probably would not have done if they had not had the help.”
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