Kiri Pritchard-McLean, acclaimed stand-up comedian, is embarking on a remarkable journey into foster care. Reflecting on her future, she envisioned children being part of it, albeit not necessarily as biological offspring.
A Surprising Call
When she and her partner heard a radio advert seeking foster carers, it felt like destiny calling. The award-winning comic, with a diverse stage, TV, and radio career, might not seem an obvious candidate for foster parenting.
However, what Kiri and her partner lack in traditional parenting experience, they make up for with a nurturing environment on their north Wales farm. They offer respite fostering, hosting children for short periods when they are fully present and engaged.
Addressing a Growing Need
Their approach, though unconventional, fills a crucial gap in the fostering landscape. With nearly 5,000 children in foster care in Wales and a nationwide shortage of carers.
Data from ‘The Fostering Network’ says that almost 70k children live with 52k foster families across the UK every day. The comedian says that throughout her life she was surrounded by people who took care of children that weren’t theirs.
She has two brothers who grew up to be teachers, parents who ran a riding school and taught riding for the disabled, and she, herself taught drama ever since she was 16 and now launched a comedy school for children 8+.
She acknowledges her privilege for having grown up in a secure happy childhood, which many of the children who pass through her doors don’t have.
I suppose the idea of being involved with, and nurturing and supporting children that aren’t biologically yours is absolutely normalised in my family.
How It Started
Since my 20s, when I started seriously thinking about what does my family look like in the future, I was like, I don’t feel like biological children is the right thing for me.
There were a lot of things about motherhood that doesn’t exactly seem appealing to her. Her and her partner even talked about adoption – that was until, they heard from the radio about the desperate shortage of foster carers in her area, that they decided to take up arms.
Though, today they only host short-term foster care, they are already looking towards a more long-term option for themselves. The whole process could likely take them a long time to finish.
Even for being short-term foster carers, they had to undergo training, which she surprisingly found to be quite fascinating, then go through an interview process that all in all took them around 60 hours.
They want to know everything about your upbringing, your wages, your pets, how your resolve arguments. We were interviewed together and then we were interviewed separately and then our friends were interviewed, previous partners, all this kind of thing.
They were unusual prospects to be approved though; they don’t have their own children, they were young, and had unique jobs to sustain themselves. Because of this they had to follow a set of conditions,
So it came with a set of conditions that I could not use my real name, because it would make me very googleable, and that might make the young person vulnerable, or it might make me vulnerable.
Peacock
As time went on she had a number of private conversations that led to more people looking up the process of foster care, and sort-of became a recruitment spokesperson. So, she thought what if talked about it on a larger scale and not just to her friends?
Which led to the making of her current show, ‘Peacock’, which focuses on the entire process and how it’s going for them. Before anything else, she had to “present” this idea to her social worker, where she describes to be ‘the toughest gigs of my life’.
In a boardroom in Llangefni town council offices. Fair play to the three gals, they were absolutely brilliant as an audience considering everything.
Kiri Pritchard McLean received input from top organizations like Foster Wales, and local fostering groups who would be present at her shows, ready to inform any audience member who would be curious about being a foster parent.
Peacock will tour all around the UK and Ireland, plus, she is now allowed to use her real name and talk about her job with all the kids she will host. Dates for her tour could be found HERE! While waiting for her tour to come through near you, satisfy your comedy appetite with amazing comedy shows right here at the best comedy clubs in London, Big Belly Comedy Club
