A family of foster carers are facing bankruptcy and homelessness after they signed up to a Government scheme to renovate their house to be used for disabled children's short breaks. Two years ago the Waite family received a grant from Leicestershire County Council to transform their home into a respite centre for severely disabled foster children. But after a dispute arose with the builder over the £75,000 extension to their three bedroom house in Leicestershire, Mark Waite, 44, and his wife Clair, 39, now face losing everything they have worked for. The couple, who represent the third generation in a 100-year family tradition of fostering disabled children, have had to sell all their furniture and clothes on ebay to pay solicitor's fees and say they now face total ruin. They say the council has "left them out in the cold" over the legal wrangle, leaving them responsible for tens of thousands of pounds of debt which will almost certainly result in them ending up on the streets with their two children.
NEW DELHI, A woman activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party crosses a police barricade near the residence of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a protest against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2013 .
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
A German photographer travelled around Africa where he met and photographed members of tribes in a series of intimate portraits .
A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .
ARM extended and head flung back, this little chipmunk performs a loose-limbed yoga move .
This may look like a monster car engine that will leave petrol heads in a spin, but it is in fact a rather snazzy looking COFFEE MACHINE .
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
A cheeky owl fancies a game of hide and seek as it peeps out from behind a tree .
SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws .
STEPFORD wives from the 1950's and 60's are performing history's most sexist exercise programme .
SOME OF the sea’s most terrifying creatures show their softer side as they join a group of diners for lunch .
The lighthouses of Brittany, from Brest to Le Conquet, stand tall on France’s north-western coast against stunning scenery .