FOSTER A CHILD

Foster care is a preferred alternative to a children’s home or other state residential facility for a child deemed in need of care. Very often, these children are moved into state care as a result of extreme difficulties in their families. The aim of foster care, therefore, is to provide the child, from age 0-18, with a safe, loving, and nurturing family environment where he or she can get individual attention. Prerequisites to becoming a foster-parent To become a foster-parent, one must:

Be willing to undergo a medical. Provide two persons who can comment on one’s suitability and readiness to receive and care for a child.

Undergo a period of training by the children's officer from the Child Development Agency (CDA) in order to become familiar with caring for children in a manner which would promote their growth and development and satisfy the CDA's expectations. The foster-parent would also have the opportunity to voice to the officer their expectations of the agency.

Be willing to be supervised by a social worker via regular follow-up visits to the foster home to determine that the child's well-being is being taken care of.

Be prepared to allow the foster-child to maintain contact with his or her biological parents or relatives and allow for the reintegration of the child once a recommendation to that effect has been made by the social worker.

State’s responsibility

Once your application has been approved and the foster-care relationship begins, the Government offers a monthly allowance towards the maintenance of each foster-child as well as fees for clothing, books, school fees, and medical bills where necessary. Likewise, it is expected that the foster-parent would supplement this to meet the needs of the child in keeping with the Child Care and Protection Act, 2004.

What it would take to be a foster-parent Becoming a foster-parent demands a high level of commitment to child-rearing.

Foster-parents are expected to treat a foster-child with the same love, care, dignity, and respect as they would treat their biological children. Patience and understanding are critical attributes of a fosterparent as some foster-children need special care and nurturing as they may bear psychological and emotional scars arising from the difficult circumstances from which they come.

How does one become a foster-parent?

Be an adult of good moral and legal standing with a loving and caring disposition. There is, however, a legal process which must be followed for a person to become a foster-parent.

Apply in writing through the children's officer at the CDA in your parish.

A foster-parent is a state-certified caregiver under whose supervision a ward of the state is placed. Placement is usually arranged through a government agency.

The foster-care system in the modern sense had its beginnings in 1853 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.