The reality show supermum who’s taken in 250 kids
The Only Way Is Essex favourite DEBBIE DOUGLAS has dedicated the past 20 years to fostering. She explains why all children deserve the best start in life
SHE is the bubbly mother on The Only Way Is Essex who is often spotted walking the red carpet alongside her glamorous daughter Lydia Bright. But behind the glitz and glamour of the reality TV show Debbie Douglas is something of a supermum.
Over the past 22 years, as well as raising her own children, Georgia, 25, Lydia, 24, Freddie, 17, and Romana, 12, Debbie and her husband David, 55, have fostered more than 250 children at their home in Woodford, Essex.
“We live in a madhouse. There is never a dull moment,” says Debbie, 54.
Debbie, who worked in fashion before having children, first heard about fostering by chance during a conversation with a friend.
“Just three months after having Georgia I found out I was pregnant with Lydia and my idea of going back to work went out the window,” explains Debbie.
“My friend fostered and asked if I would consider it as there was a real shortage of carers.”
When a child is removed from their parents a foster carer provides a stable home for them until they are adopted.
Each case is different and a child can be in foster care from just a few hours to many years.
Fostering differs from adoption as when a child is adopted they then remain with that legal guardian until they are 18.
Keen to give fostering a go, Debbie and David, a construction worker, waited until Lydia was old enough to go to nursery then signed themselves up.
An assessment by a social worker followed, as well as medical and police checks and some basic training.
“The whole process took more than a year because they have to be thorough,” says Debbie.
“Then one day I got my call, asking if we could take in a week- old baby girl.”
AS she welcomed the tiny child into her home Debbie explains that she was instantly filled with love.
“I wasn’t nervous. I was excited,” she says.
“As I held her tiny fingers I realised that I was going to be a big chapter in her life and that I needed to make it count.”
Since then, over the past two decades Debbie has gone on to foster children of all ages, from three- day- old infants to 16- year- olds.
There was often no knowing how long each child would stay.
One was with Debbie just a few days while another lived with her for seven years.
As many of the children in her care were from abusive homes, drug and alcohol related- problems and behavioural issues were commonplace.
“No child comes into care because their parents are loving,” explains Debbie.
“And those issues are tough to iron out. It is hard to unlearn behaviours and getting children to think in a different way can be incredibly difficult.”
But although Debbie admits there were challenging times she has never had a moment of regret.
In fact, she explains that her four birth children have proved to be good role models for their house guests.
“A lot of the foster kids who came into our home found it hard to trust adults as it was grown- ups who had abandoned them in the first place. Instead they would trust my birth children,” says Debbie.
“Imagine never having sat at a table before or used a knife and fork. Who do they look at for guidance? The other youngsters in the house.”
Sharing her house with up to three foster children was the norm for Lydia, who like her mum found fame on TOWIE, and she has said it was an incredibly rewarding part of her childhood.
“Going to sleep in my bunk bed with a five- year- old sister and waking up with a three- year- old brother was nothing out of the ordinary,” she says. “It taught me the importance of sharing and caring for those who are not as fortunate as us and never to judge or stereotype people.”
Two decades on, Debbie is still fostering and she now trains new foster carers for Hackney Social Services.
WHILE her foster children don’t appear on TOWIE for confidentiality reasons they are very involved behind the scenes.
“They always love the fi lm crew. They assist the sound men, help take the lighting down and sit in the toy room and watch the screen with the director,” says Debbie. As part of Barnardo’s Change A Life campaign, Debbie hopes that sharing her experiences will encourage more people to consider fostering.
“I know from being a mum that every child deserves the best start in life. You don’t need any special skills to foster, just to be able to offer a child a loving home,” she says.
“Childhood should be spent in happiness, swimming in the sea, having sleepovers with friends and being sick because you’ve eaten too many sweets. That’s why I do this. Even if I make the tiniest difference for the better in their lives, then my job is done.”