'My future is bright thanks to my foster parents'

Michael remembers coming home from school one day and being told to say goodbye to his mother. He was eight years old. Now 15 and living with a foster family, he says he can look to the future. The BBC spoke to him, his foster parent and the woman who helped bring them together.

"I didn't want anyone special," says Michael.

"I just wanted someone normal; I wanted some normality in my life.

"It's what most children want."

Michael is describing what it was like waiting to find the foster carers who would love him as their own.

"I was given this piece of paper and a picture of a little person, and you write in all you want to see in the ideal parent.

"I put 'no football', because I hate sports.

"It was the little things, and they matched us up."

With help from the charity Break, Michael found what he needed in Clive - a man who never dreamed he would have the chance to bring up a child - and his husband, at their home in Norfolk.

Looking back on their first days together six years ago, Michael recalls being anxious, but they soon found their rhythm.

"It didn't take long because they are really nice people," he adds.

What had been a difficult childhood has turned into something "really positive" with his foster carers.

"I'm happier," he reflects.

"When I moved in with Clive I was all hasty, I kept dropping my cups of tea because I was really nervous.

"With any foster child you are going to get all those kinks. If you give it time the things that have stopped them living normally will fade away.

"When you foster a child, it's going to be difficult at first but when you get to know each other you will be like a normal family."

Just as Michael needed the security of normality, so Clive longed for a life that seemed out of reach.

"I always wanted to be part of a family and nurture children and I never thought I could do that, as a gay man," he says.

"But things change and society changed.

"My husband and I considered it - we have a a room and love to give, so we thought 'yeah, why not?'."

The process included nine months of weekly meetings with Break, during which "they deduced who we are, and what we like", he says.

"It's people lives. It shouldn't be rushed; it's really important to get that right."

And then - a match.

"I do remember feeling nervous and all butterflies and 'oh gosh this is it'," he recalls.

"You don't just get a child presented at the door.

"We met Michael a few times, we went out for a day trip together, he gets to know us and we get to know him, so it's not such a shock."

As with Michael, Clive had the jitters when they started living together.

"I particularly remember the first night, I was really anxious," he says.

"We were going 'is he sleeping, does he want food, does he want this, does he want that,' but not trying to overwhelm him because he was anxious himself.

"It was really important to keep really calm and very supportive towards him.

"It all settled in really nicely and he clicked."

Did they worry about taking on a stranger's troubled background and reconcile that with the hope of all the rewards that come with the child flourishing in their care?

"For us it isn't about the rewards - it's about providing that opportunity for someone, regardless of what they bring to the door," says Clive.

"We hope we have helped provide that support so Michael feels he can explore the world.

"You have to be patient, children in foster care will have been through a difficult time.

"That can be tricky and can be emotionally difficult but it's about being there and standing by their side.

"It was a huge learning curve but I think we learned quite fast - we had to."

Clive say it is "lovely" to now reminisce about Michael's growing up.

"I probably wouldn't have imagined that he would sit his GCSEs and go to school as much as he has but he has really pushed himself forward and dedicated himself to learning," he says.

"I'm really proud of him.

"Michael wants to go to college, he has ambitions and dreams, which is great to see and we are really supportive of that, but if that doesn't happen it doesn't matter, there will always be something else.

"We are here for the long term for him."

What would he say to anyone considering becoming a foster carer?

"Just do it.

"If you take pleasure in seeing people grow, become adults and learn, then just do it."

One of those who helped create this bond was Natasha Freeman, who manages Break's independent fostering agency across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

It has a team of social workers that supports fostering families and a therapeutic practitioner to help with any issues that may arise.

It prides itself on taking matching "really seriously" so children who have had multiple foster placements will stay with one family with the charity's support.

"Children we look after have had a really difficult start in life and some of their behaviour may be challenging.

"But what we know is that when we place a child in to a family with Break they stay there until 18 and into adulthood in some cases and they become a part of that family.

"That's because we are here to listen when times are hard and respond to their needs when they arise.

"We look at the whole family, the biological children and fostered children, and the carers' skills set, and we look at the children as they come through.

"Finding the right child to fit into the family is critical to us knowing when they move there they stay there for ever."

The "huge benefits" to fostering are many, including for the foster parents' biological children, she says.

"You are nurturing a child who needs it more than ever - to know that they can love, and can be loved and can trust an adult again.

"It means they can grow into their dreams, whatever they may be."

Back at home, Michael is passionate about art and is keen to see where it may take him.

"It is how I see the world and I can portray it, get it out there and put my thoughts on canvas," he says.

"It's how I express myself."

And as he approaches adulthood and independence, he knows his foster carers have his back, wherever life takes him.

"I am hopeful," he says.

"I see the future is bright because I am able to express myself easily because they [his foster carers] have let me, which I may not have been able to feel before.

"I see myself, in the future, living happily."

Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830