Carolyn Moody MBE
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- Author:FosterWiki
- Published:January 2022
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Country:
Carolyn Moody MBE
Born
Carolyn Joan Moody
Dulwich London
February 1962
Education
Bonus Pastor Catholic College Kent
Vauxhall Manor Girls School London
Folkestone College Level 3 Diploma Children & Young People
Broadstairs College Diploma in Psychology.
Occupation
- Retail Management in Charitable Organisations.
- Ofsted Registered Professional Childminder.
- Foster Carer Expert by Experience in Special Education Needs, Disabled children and Therapeutic.
- Shared Lives Host Supporting Vulnerable Adults with Learning disabilities, Autism and mental health to benefit family life beyond 18 to live independently in the community.
Following her work as a Registered Childminder for Kent County Council, and during the same time as being a Volunteer for Home Start Thanet, Carolyn made the transition to Foster Carer. Working for the Local Authority and then independent Fostering agencies in Kent.
Early life
Carolyn Moody was born in Dulwich in London in February 1962. Her father was an electrician and her mother a secretary from a working-class family. She spent her early childhood in Catford in London, until her parents divorced.
Carolyn never saw her father again. At 12 she moved to Brixton London, her mother now as a single parent raising two children and working full time. Carolyn was educated at Bonus Pastor Catholic College Kent and then transferred to Vauxhall Manor girls school London.
Carolyn described her school life as difficult as there was a stigma growing up in a one-parent household, and having to have free school dinners and basic school uniforms. Life was very different to her earlier experiences. Carolyn left school and went into retail with charitable organisations where she worked her way into management. Carolyn went on to complete a Level 3 diploma for children & young people and a diploma in Psychology.
Carolyn has had a number of traumatic life events; she married and had two children and divorced several years later becoming a working single parent herself for some years until she married Derek Moody gaining two stepchildren.
When one of Carolyn’s children went to university and her youngest was 14 she felt it was the right time for her to start the process of becoming a foster carer with her husband in 2001.
Her Mother had since remarried, but in 2008 the family had devastating news; they lost her stepfather to suicide which was devastating.
Her early motivation to foster children was her best friend who lived nearby in a children’s home run by the council. Then again during her years volunteering at Home-Start she knew it was still her passion to make that difference.
“It was pretty gruesome for my friend and nothing like I had ever experienced as a child. We moved to Brixton and I never saw her again until many years later.
However, I never forgot my friend and tried to find her many times. I married young and started a family of my own at 19. I knew though when they were old enough, I wanted to improve life for children who were not as lucky as me or my children. Eventually, I managed to find my friend.
I learned at 18 she was given a little money and moved into a horrible bedsit where she had to decide whether to put money in the meter for warmth or buy food.
My husband had a different experience to me, he had two parents quite working class, and a stable home environment. Until meeting me he had no experience of hardship”
As Carolyn developed her fostering practice looking after children with more complex needs, she was involved in different fostering schemes, including a therapeutic re-parenting programme and specialist fostering for children with disabilities.
During her time at the Local Authority, she sat on the corporate parenting panel and was an Ambassador for Kent. Moody currently is a foster carer for a charitable organisation based in Ashford Kent. Alongside this, she is also a Shared Lives Host for the Local Authority Kent for the last 8 years.
“My passion was and still is, to see excellent support and a better fostering service for children who are disabled and the same for care leavers, and I have advocated fiercely for this over the years.
I also want foster carers to be respected, to be treated as the professionals they are around the child and to be valued for the work they do. For too long they have been treated as disposable and that is why I would like to see a central licencing body for all foster carers and to improve outcomes for children.”
Awards:
MBE
On Tues 8th Nov 2022 I was delighted to attend Windsor Castle to receive my MBE alongside my husband, from William the Prince of Wales for our commitment and dedication for our many years’ of service for fostering for Kent. It is an honour to have both received this. A fantastic experience which we will never forget. For us receiving this award, it shows recognition of the value of fostering to our communities and our country.
In 2016 Foster Talk Permanency Foster Carer Award
Foster child “Out of their own generosity, they loved me and cared for me – I couldn’t dream of having a better family. They love me so much and I couldn’t love them more.”
In 2017 received the Head of Fostering Award for outcomes for children, the care of disabled children and the contribution towards recruiting new foster carers.
Foster child “They got permanency approval for me. This was very special for me as it meant I was part of the family and not just a foster child anymore. Not that this meant anything because from the start they have always thought of me as another son.”
In 2021 Foster Talk Lock Down Stars 2021 Award
Carolyn said “What fostering means to me: Every once in a lifetime, we come across that one individual who makes the world seem a better place to live in. How lucky are we to have met three! I am so proud of each of the boys and I feel over the moon when they master new milestones when their faces beam with happiness. How different their lives are now from their early experiences!”
In 2022 MBE Awarded for her Fostering in Kent along with her husband Derek Moody
“We are pleased, honoured and humbled to have received an MBE. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet; it certainly was a brilliant New Year’s Eve.”
Paying tribute to their extended family, fostering colleagues and the Caldecott Foundation, Carol added:
“We want to say a huge thank you to our birth children whom we love very much, and their partners who have always included our young people as one of the family and our extended family, friends and other professionals for their many years of valuable support which we couldn’t have done without them. Fostering is a journey, and it is wonderful how much difference you can make to a child’s life.Our boys…what can I say, except they are amazing, they are inspirational, and they bring us so much joy. Kent needs more people who care to become foster carers”
References and links
- https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2017/10/09/two-thanet-couples-have-received-foster-care-awards/
- https://www.fostertalk.org/caldecott-fostering-couple-recognised-in-2022-new-year-honours/
- https://www.fostertalk.org/awards/
- Supporting Disabled Children and Young people 16yrshttps://fosterwiki.com/wiki/supporting-disabled-children-and-yp-16yrs/
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