A teenage girl's life has been turned around after moving in with the same foster carer who looked after her mother 25 years before.
Fifteen-year-old Talia Ameesha was taken into care at the start of 2018, and now lives with 74-year-old Andy Hider from Keynsham, who has looked after more than 100 children over 34 years - including Talia's own mum.
Since reaching secondary school age four years ago Talia has faced a number of exclusions, and for two years did not attend school at all - choosing instead to hang out with her friends in similar situations most days. She was often getting into trouble, and those around her had raised a number of concerns about the path she was on.
When Talia's mother realised she needed help, she knew exactly what she wanted for her daughter - and so Andy became a self-described 'foster granny'.
Channel 4 reveals historic site in Bristol where it will be based
She said: "It's not easy being at school and meeting new people. All the teachers say I'm doing fine though.
"I still see my mum a lot - it's just that now I've got someone to get me up in the morning, take me to school, and motivate me. Andy's really helpful for that, and I'm really happy.
"Older people always say they wish they could do things differently if they could go back to school. I think I'm realising what they mean."
A little more than a year on, Talia has managed to maintain an almost 100 per cent attendance record at her new school - Broadlands Academy in Keynsham, and is working towards her ambition of becoming an accountant after discovering a flair for maths and science.
She has shown such a transformation in her approach to education that she is a finalist in the Learning Hero category of Young Bristol Heroes Awards 2019, which are run by Community of Purpose and will be held this Friday (April 5) at We The Curious.
Two parts of Clifton Down could be linked by an 80 metre stone arch bridge
Hannah Thayer, deputy headteacher at Broadlands Academy, said: “Talia has blown us away this year and we couldn't be more proud of her.
“To start a new school in Year 10 is a huge undertaking. To start a new school when you haven't really attended for two years is a massive deal.
“Talia is showing a huge commitment to her studies and wanting to improve academically. She is showing huge resilience and is part of a new book club at the school. We love her being here and cannot wait to see what she will achieve at the end of Year 11.”
Andy has been a single foster carer for more than three decades, after stumbling across a bookmark in her local library and deciding to learn more in a bid to support her family financially. She now works as a carer with a Bristol-based independent agency Amicus Foster Care, which is based in St Werburgh's Community Centre.
She said: "I started fostering after my husband and I separated. My youngest child was only two and I needed to earn money. I had thought about fostering as I love children, but I dismissed it as my youngest son needed me and I thought having more children in the house would make him feel pushed out.
Ted X speaker reveals what it's like having autistic son in Somali community
"Then one weekend, a couple of years later, fate took a hand, and everything changed. I went to the library on a Saturday, as usual, and as I was browsing a bookmark fell out from a book above me. I picked it up and saw that it had an advert on it for fostering teenagers.
"It said you would be paid to do it too, and it felt like fate. I decided to give it a go.
“I went to an introductory meeting and was told the process could take around six months before I was approved to foster children aged 13 and over. I can remember thinking that if a child was 13 and it was hell, I'd have them for five years. It never occurred that I'd tell them to leave – and I never have.
“My older children were all for it. Funnily enough, I only ever planned to foster for a short while, just until my youngest was old enough to come home from school on his own, which would mean that I could find another job.
"But that never happened, and I am now in my thirty-third year of fostering."
Row breaks out between Bristol Labour groups after suspension of MP over remarks on anti-Semitism
Andy has played a major role in transforming the lived of dozens of young people from the most difficult of backgrounds and has become a mother figure to many, having given away a foster-son at his wedding and watching many foster children grow their own families as adults.
She said: "Every child who walks through my door is hurting in one way or another.
"In fostering you may never get to the heart of their problems and you may not be able to change their lives immediately.
"When they arrive they are a tightly wound spring. That, in time, becomes looser and that is when you can start to build a relationship and start to work with them.
People 'don't have to pay' at Bristol car park as 'council can't enforce fines'
"If I had my life over again I would not change a thing. I am so lucky to have shared in their lives of all the young people who were placed in my care.
"I know I must retire one day, but there is always ‘just one more needing me’. So for now I will keep going."
To find out more about Amicus Foster Care, click here. You can find out more about the Bristol Young Heroes Awards by visiting the link here.
