‘I LOVE SEEING ALL MY KIDS BLOSSOM'

This amazing mum has opened her home – and heart – to vulnerable kids

- Brigid Auchettl

If it wasn’t for a tiny advertisement Margie Bailey spotted in a newspaper when she was just a young mum raising two toddlers with her husband Ron 35 years ago, many “broken” young children would’ve missed out on her love.

“When they come to us, some of them are broken and sad and detached. I always describe it as watching a flower open,” explains real-life angel Margie, who has just been named Barnardos Mother of the Year. “It’s so rewarding seeing the little ones blossom in our care... of course it’s terrible when they leave but that’s just the nature of fostering.”