Jean and Jim retire after 50 years of foster care

A county couple have retired from fostering after an incredible 50 years providing love, kindness and care for hundreds of children.

Jean and Jim Innes originally started fostering in November 1975. They lived in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh, with their daughters Marion and Julie, then seven and ten.

First steps in fostering

When their girls were born Jean and Jim agreed that Jim, a blacksmith, would be the family's breadwinner while she would stay at home.

As the girls grew, Jean felt it was time for a new challenge and one day she stopped off at the local volunteer bureau. They were looking for volunteers at a children’s home in Colinton run by the Avenel Trust. This would work round her childcare responsibilities for Julie and Marion so Jean applied, was interviewed and accepted a position. She started work a couple of mornings a week but was soon almost full-time.

Jean developed a soft spot for an eight-months old girl who had been born profoundly deaf and had complex needs. Jean felt this girl had potential and asked if she could have her home at weekends. Although this wasn’t possible Sybil, the baby’s social worker, suggested Jean and her husband could foster instead and, after discussing it, the couple agreed. After undergoing an assessment, the baby moved home with them when she was 14 months-old, staying until she left to attend a residential school aged five. Before she moved on, Jean and Jim had been providing short breaks for other young children and were easily persuaded to continue fostering. 

Caring for hundreds of children

Now based in Musselburgh, Jean and Jim have lost count of the number of children they have gone on to foster since then, but it’s likely to be in the hundreds.  

They have seen huge changes in the time they have been fostering. In the early days it was quite customary for Julie to wake up and find that she had been moved into Marion’s bed to make room for a fostered child!  Despite the changes, Jean and Jim count themselves lucky to have only had three supervising social workers in their 50 years of fostering. 

Fostering legacy continues

Although they have reluctantly decided to retire from fostering, Jean still feels very much part of the fostering community through her good group of friends who she shares a WhatsApp group with. As well as the profound impact they have had on the hundreds of children they have fostered, Jean and Jim’s fostering legacy continues through their daughter Julie who, together with her partner Raymond, are themselves foster carers.

Jean and Jim now enjoy spending time with their family – six children – Julie, Marion, Ian, Cheryl, Sam and Cal – 11 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Jean and Jim for their hard work and dedication that has had a profound impact on the lives of so many children in East Lothian. We wish them all the very best in their retirement from fostering.

National recognition for East Lothian Libraries Team

Congratulations to our Libraries Team, who were highly commended in the Library Team of the Year category in the Scottish Library and Information Council’s (SLIC) annual awards. 

The announcement from SLIC noted that ‘the East Lothian Libraries team were recognised for their integrated approach across 12 public libraries and seven secondary schools. Despite budget pressures, the team maintained high quality services and delivered a range of community initiatives, from dementia-friendly groups and digital inclusion sessions to gardening clubs and family learning cafés’. 

Councillor Colin McGinn, Cabinet Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Sport, Countryside and Leisure, said: “I am absolutely delighted that our fantastic East Lothian Libraries Team has been recognised for the work they put in to ensure our libraries support communities and citizens across East Lothian. Whether in a community or secondary school I know how much our libraries are valued by those who use them and, despite a difficult year with staffing pressures, the whole team has responded to continue to provide an excellent service and this national recognition underlines that effort. They should all be very proud of this achievement.” 

The full story is available on the SLIC website.

 

Meet Charlann!

Charlann Peggie is a Senior Project Manager with our Transformation Service. With 20 years as an HR consultant in Royal Bank of Scotland, her experience working on large and complex projects continues to shape her work within the transformation service today.

Key to change

Working across multiple teams and departments and with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, her role is to ensure that projects are well planned and delivered effectively. “The key to any change is our people. Understanding how a change affects people directly and indirectly is one something I understand from years of HR experience and from being personally impacted by major organisational change during my time at RBS.”

Charlann previously led on our Transforming Children’s Services project which prioritised an early intervention and a preventative approach to make a difference in the lives of children and families. She is now member of the placemaking project team, part of our asset review, exploring a new approach for providing face-to-face services while delivering financial savings.

Excellent customer services

While no decisions have been made on building proposals, following Council approval in October, the team is now progressing business cases for six area hubs as well as consideration of potential new models for services in some rural libraries, community centres and village halls involving local communities. It’s an area Charlann says she is “excited to see develop”, pointing to the commitment to excellent customer service that exists across the council.

“I think all the staff here are passionate about making East Lothian better and doing a great job for the residents. That's fantastic. I think that everybody here genuinely does think about the community and how we make it better. That's what I really enjoy about East Lothian Council,” she says.

Away from work Charlann enjoys spending time with her husband and children, crafting and horseriding.

Celebrating staff compliments

Individuals, teams and departments across our council regularly receive compliments from residents, visitors, staff and businesses. Here's a selection:

This lovely piece of feedback was hand delivered by Annie who was contacted through Prestonpans Community Centre’s Positive Prescriptions referral scheme to come along and join the Friendship Group held there.

Dear Lorna and all of you. After 84 very unhappy years, I came in on Thursday to be greeted with such warmth and acceptance that it took my breath away. It felt like I’d found my forever home! Please don’t forget me – I will be back. Thank you so much.

Well done to the many teams and staff for the positive feedback and compliments they have received recently, including:

• the Waste Services team, especially John and Stuart for clearing up the rubbish blown around the street in North Berwick
• Judith Mackie in Revenues for helping with a customer’s Council Tax
• the ‘book bugs’ at Haddington Library
• the team from Landscape and Countryside who picked up the litter on the A1
• Amanda Mackay in the Contact Centre for being patient and calming
• the Museums team for being wonderful and inspiring