Pride of Plymouth 2015: Carer of the Year finalists
Phyllida Brown, of Action for Children Fostering South West Peninsula, has worked with Chris and Anita for many years. She said: "Chris and Anita are a warm, active and nurturing couple who offer young people the opportunity to be successful and work very hard to develop their skills as foster parents."
Foster parents Chris Gaydon and Anita May have had three foster children full-time in the last five years.
They also provide a temporary foster home for other children whose full-time foster carers have gone on holiday, as well as taking care of their own daughter, Trinity.
Chris said: "My partner, Anita, has prior experiences with children in care and wanted to give back. It seemed like a natural thing to do.
"We approached Action for Children and they came out to assess our suitability – they checked the safety of the home and we had to have an interview about our personal life in which we were asked if we smoked, drank alcohol and what our own upbringings were like."
Chris recently retired from the military after 25 years' service.
He worked as part of the 29 Commando Regiment at Royal Citadel.
After leaving the service, he volunteered for a local authority representing children if they had been arrested and required an adult to accompany them during police interviews.
"My foster children come from different backgrounds. The children that come into foster care have often offended, others have become involved in drugs and others have been neglected – some are all three."
Chris also praised the influence his foster children have had on his biological daughter and the effect she has had on them.
"A lot of these children enhance Trinity's life; it's therapeutic both ways because they are respectful of her and she is a calming influence on them."
One of Chris and Anita's foster children will start university in September with the future goal of becoming a teacher.
Chris and Anita are looking into the prospect of becoming legal guardians for their foster children so that they will always have some responsibility over their lives.
Phyllida Brown, of Action for Children Fostering South West Peninsula, has worked with Chris and Anita for many years. She said: "Chris and Anita are a warm, active and nurturing couple who offer young people the opportunity to be successful and work very hard to develop their skills as foster parents."
"Anita and I are so proud to be nominated for the Pride of Plymouth award - it is such an amazing honour," Chris said.
"Being nominated for something we love and feel privileged to be a part of is rewarding to say the least.
"We would like to give special thanks to Action for Children and Plymouth City Council Social services for their tireless and constant support to help these young people achieve great things in their life.
"We feel blessed that these young people share our lives and our home and trust us to support them through to the next chapter of there lives."