Stand-up Kiri Pritchard-McLean explores foster parenting in latest show - Guildford and Brighton - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Kiri Pritchard-McLean shares the experience of becoming a foster parent in her latest tour Peacock.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this

00:06afternoon to speak to Kiri Prashad-McLean. And goodness, you've got an important show

00:11on the road under the title Peacock, which doesn't really give away too much what it's

00:15actually about. You're talking about how you started foster caring, and that's a wonderful

00:20thing to have done, which it sounds like, well, it's changed things for you, hasn't

00:25it?

00:26Yeah, of course. I think anyone who has children come into their life under whatever guise,

00:31you know, whether that's biological or, you know, stepchildren or kinship foster caring

00:34or foster caring like us, that is going to have a huge and quite profound, you know,

00:38effect on your life. And it has, it has done for my partner and I, we've been doing it

00:42for just over three years now. And yeah, we love it.

00:46But it's such a massive step, isn't it? What made you think you wanted to do this?

00:51Yeah, I guess it was a massive step from two people without their own children to go into

00:57being foster carers. But, you know, we heard an advert on the radio, and it just said,

01:00you know, get in contact, you know, if you've ever thought about having children in your

01:04life, which, of course, we had. But I've never, and my partner's the same, actually, never

01:08really had the desire to have a biological family. And that was never very important

01:12to me, I think, because there's a lot of adoption in my family, my father was adopted and things.

01:16So I've never associated biological children with love. It's family I think of with love.

01:20So yeah, we got in contact, and the social workers are brilliant. And we did loads of

01:24training, and they answered all our questions. And at every point, I think we thought they're

01:28going to say something that puts us off. And it was quite the opposite, actually. So we

01:32went through that process that was about a year, and then started doing it. And yes,

01:36it has had a big impact on our life. I think when you do the training as well, it's such

01:40an eye opener. You know, I work in the arts, I'm very lucky. I'm around some very lucky,

01:45privileged people. And you can forget how tough life is for people and how the odds

01:51are stacked against lots of groups of people in our country, and even as wealthy as it

01:55is. So I think it's a good reminder as well that, you know, that we are in a very privileged

02:00position. And then you've got to ask yourself, what do you do with that?

02:03And has it told you things about you? Have you learned things about you? That's a deeply

02:07pretentious question to ask.

02:10Oh, no, I love a pretentious question.

02:12Well, there you are, there's one.

02:14I think the thing I have found out is, I think I would be a very, very bad biological parent

02:22if I was 24 seven having to do it. But I can be a very good, very engaged with no phones,

02:28full teamwork, my partner and I, I can do that brilliantly for a few days. And I, I

02:34start to not recognize myself when I've had, you know, when we've had, like our friends,

02:38children stay and we'll look after them for a very long time. And you just start to feel

02:42bits of yourself, you know, as you're tired and there's lots of questions and, oh, what's

02:46happening for food? And we've got to keep them entertained and we want them to be nourished.

02:49It's a lot, isn't it? And so I think that the kind of standard I would want to perform

02:54being, you know, a parental figure, let's say, I think respite foster care is the perfect

03:01mix for me.

03:01You've found the perfect thing for you. Well, lovely to speak to you and good luck with

03:05the tour and good luck with everything. Thank you.

03:07Thanks so much.

Stand-up Kiri Pritchard-McLean explores foster parenting in latest show - Guildford and Brighton

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