I've got no regrets that I swapped nursing for fostering'

PHONE CALL LED TO A LIFE-CHANGING DECISION FOR EUNICE

- THOMAS GEORGE

FOR as long as she can remember, Eunice Shelton has always enjoyed the company of others.

Growing up in Jamaica, her childhood was a happy one surrounded by siblings and extended family. Her mum, Daphne, moved to the UK when Eunice was only one so she was brought up by her grandparents.

When she turned 14, Eunice came to live with her mum, who had settled into a new life in Manchester, where she worked as a nurse.

Eunice decided to follow in her mum's footsteps.

She completed a nursing degree and secured a job at Withington Hospital, where she worked for 32 years. Yet during that time, the idea of becoming a foster carer kept nagging away at her.

Not quite ready yet to leave a job she loved, she decided to look into fostering for when she retired. That all changed when, during a twoweek holiday from work in 2011, she received a phone call asking if she could take three siblings on an emergency fostering placement.