I’ve taken in 200 kids but wouldn’t recognise my first baby on the bus for agonising reason, says Towie’s Debbie Bright
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AS data from Barnardo’s shows an 18 per cent drop in applications to become foster carers, a former Towie star says it’s never too late to give a child a home. IT’S the middle of the night and Debbie Bright is feeding a baby, knowing that she’ll have the school run in a few hours.
![[Towie's Debbie Bright has fostered over 200 children over the last 30 years]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/sun-features-debbie-bright-62-961902741.jpg?strip=all&w=519)
Most 62-year-old grandmothers would be enjoying a slower pace of life, but the Essex matriarch revels in a house full of kids thanks to her career as a foster carer. “I’ve seen friends go into a depression because their nest is empty and they feel they lack purpose,” says Debbie, who has taken in more than 200 young people over 30 years and last week alone had six children staying with her.
![[Debbie with Tommy, who she fostered at age two]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/debbie-bright-collects-961988332.jpg?strip=all&w=908)
“But older people have so much to offer and there’s only so many times you can have lunch with your friends. “My husband Dave is 67 and retired a year ago from his construction job. "He told me he wouldn’t have adjusted without becoming our full-time family taxi driver. The kids adore him.”.
![[Debbie with her daughter Lydia]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/debbie-douglas-lydia-bright-pure-382234911.jpg?strip=all&w=694)
Debbie hit the limelight 14 years ago as Lydia Bright’s glam mum in ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex. Off camera her life was — and is — a less starry mix of nappy changes, medical appointments and packed lunches. Had she realised the effort and emotional turmoil involved in fostering when she first volunteered in her twenties, she admits she might never have started.
![[Tommy at 21 with Debbie and her husband Dave]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/www-instagram-com-p-ddy-961935439.jpg?strip=all&w=911)
