Lydia Bright’s foster sister reveals how hero TOWIE mum Debbie saved her from ‘dirty, drug-fuelled home’
Ellie, Lydia Bright and Debbie Douglas - who has fostered over 200 children in 25 years - have spoken exclusively to The Sun Online in support of Barnardo’s Fostering Week 2018
WITH her wavy brunette locks and warm brown eyes, Ellie looks nothing like her famous foster sister Lydia Bright – but, despite their contrasting appearance, the fiercely loyal pair are just like birth siblings.
Ellie, 18, was just six when she and her 18-month-old brother were taken away from their birth parents, who had battled substance issues and spent time in prison. Ellie went on to live with Lydia and her mum Debbie Douglas, 56, in the family's detached 1930s Essex home for 12 years.
“If I didn’t come here, god knows where I’d be,” she revealed. “I’d probably be hanging around on the streets, smoking weed, drinking 24/7. I can’t actually put it into words how grateful I am to have had Debbie and her family.”
Ellie, Lydia and Debbie - who has fostered over 200 children in 25 years - have spoken exclusively to The Sun Online in support of Barnardo’s Fostering Week 2018. The charity is urgently appealing for 7,180 foster carers to come forward and look after vulnerable children.
Ellie says her early childhood years were turbulent. “My home was dirty, small and there wasn't much space at all…,” she said. “There was nothing to do. I'd just sit there. I was exposed to drugs all day and most nights.” It's a complete contrast to Debbie's inviting pad, which is decorated in dozens of photos of smiling kids and is also home to three rescue dogs - Stanley, Dolly and Bertie - and Arnold the guinea pig.
Debbie says Ellie instantly got on with her four birth children – Lydia, 28, Georgia, 27, Romana, 14, and Freddie, 20 – but was incredibly protective of her little brother. Ellie said: “I looked after him. I felt it was my job. When I came to Debbie I found it really hard to let her take over. I’d push her away and wouldn’t let anyone touch him except me. I had to learn I wasn’t his mum and it wasn’t my job. I needed looking after myself.”
Ellie admits she lacked confidence growing up and struggled with school. “I loved going to school and being in class but I struggled to make friends my own age,” she said. “During lunch I’d rather sit in the classroom and speak to the teacher than go out with the other kids.
“I’m not a very confident person at all. I thought if I went out in the playground people would judge me and start being horrible to me.”
Ellie had a lot of anger issues growing up. “When I was younger I was a very angry person. I wasn’t angry with someone because they’d upset me but my actual mum and dad and what they did,” she said. “Debbie was my punchbag. I still think I am quite an angry person. I’ve worked on it a lot and have got better dealing with it but I think that anger will always be there.”
Ellie has remained close to her maternal grandmother but cut ties with her birth parents. “I did have contact with them when I was younger but they never used to turn up,” she said. “I never spoke to them. I had letters from my mum but that’s only when she was in prison.
"She’d never send birthday or Christmas cards. They didn’t have anything to do with us unless they were in prison. I don’t see the Bright family as a foster family, I see them as my family.”
Ellie is just one of hundreds of kids Debbie - who is cradling a foster baby during the interview - has welcomed into her Essex home. She says it’s a “fluke” she became a foster carer and only decided to give it a go after chatting to her friend.
She admits her husband Dave Bright, who owns a tiling company, wasn’t keen on the idea at first. “I went home and told my husband that I’m going to start fostering and he said, ‘No. Never. You’re not doing that’,” she laughed. “We had two very young children when I started fostering. They were in a double buggy and I had the baby in a sling.”
Debbie becomes tearful when she remembers the first child she fostered, a three-month-old baby girl. “She’d be in her 20s now. I do reflect on things and think of her occasionally," she said.
"I looked after her for the first year of her life - spending nights awake with her, feeding her, nurturing her. She maybe sees me on TOWIE and she won’t even know she lived with me.”
Foster children can stay with Debbie for a night, a week, a month or a couple of years, depending on their circumstances. The youngest child she fostered was just two days old and the eldest was a 15 year old girl. The kids are usually from the local area and 85 per cent tend to come from homes where parents are battling drug and alcohol abuse. “Everything from cannabis to heroin,” she said. “Life is a lottery to who you’re born to.”
It's a world away from the glitz, giggles and fake tan of the hit ITVBe reality show Debbie and Lydia have appeared on.
Debbie says she’s left heartbroken when the foster kids have to leave. “My biggest downfall, and probably why I stopped doing babies, is I feel like I’ve been stabbed when they go,” she said. “You do move on but you have to go through that grieving period. If you aren’t heartbroken when they leave you shouldn’t really be doing it.”
Debbie keeps in touch with many of the children via social media and receives dozens of lovely handmade cards over Christmas and her birthday. “The kids have gone on to do all different things. There’s a few at university, a few doing make-up artist courses, a few have had babies..." she said. "I was recently one of the girl’s birthing partners, so I’m a foster grandmother now. She just had a little girl. It was really lovely.”
A YouGov poll conducted on behalf of the children’s charity showed that a perceived lack of support put off nearly half of people polled. However, a survey of Barnardo’s foster carers showed that 82 per cent believed the support to be “excellent” or “good”.
Debbie is proud to support Barnardo’s latest campaign. “Being a foster carer is the most rewarding thing you can ever do. Whether you have that child for a week, a year or five years, you’re making a difference,” she said.
“I’ve made a difference in the world. I’ve learned as much from them as they have from me. Barnardo’s have a support network they’ve worked on for many years. They’ve got all this information and help you need.”
Lydia and Ellie would both like to become foster carers in the future. Ellie said: “Debbie has taught me to be caring and kind to people,” she said. “I’ve done a level two in childcare studies and a qualification in health and social care.
"I’ve just got a job in an old people’s home, working with the elderly who have dementia. I’ve always been a caring person.”
Barnardo’s Chief Executive: 'You can transform a life'
Dr Thomas Barnardo started fostering children more than 130 years ago and since then the charity has helped hundreds of thousands of the UK’s most vulnerable children to grow up happy and healthy.
Now, the UK’s leading children’s charity is calling for more people to consider providing caring, stable home environments to help transform young lives as there’s a pressing need to find more than 7,000 foster carers in the next 12 months to support children desperately in need of loving families.
Barnardo’s Chief Executive, Javed Khan told The Sun Online: “Children who have been taken into care have sometimes experienced trauma or difficult circumstances making everyday challenges more difficult to overcome.
“Having a foster carer to support them through the difficult times can help enormously but our carers can only do this if they're properly supported too.
"That’s why we ensure they have everything they need whether that’s advice, training or peer support, to feel confident they can help transform a young life.”
To find out more about becoming a foster carer, or the support Barnardo’s can offer visit
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Lydia said: “I’d definitely consider being a foster mum in the future. I liked my upbringing as part of a foster family so I’d like my children to have the same experience.
“I’m incredibly proud of my mum. She takes on a lot and she does a lot in life, there’s always so much going on in her day. She’s very chaotic my mother and I’m very proud she doesn’t lose her marbles, I think I would.
"A lot of people, when I tell them what mum has done, they think she’s amazing and I’m proud. She’s super-mum.”
Here's details on how you can become a foster carer.