The most rewarding career you can have

ECOMINGafoster carer can be a life-changing decision, as the job offers many challenges, including providing a loving home for one or more of the most vulnerable children in Scotland, many of whom will have experienced abuse or neglect before coming into care.

That caring takes determination, patience, love, and understanding and with the right people, the results can be amazing.

Children who have been in foster care with organisations such as TACT Scotland – which is part of the UK’s largest charity and voluntary agency providing fostering and adoption services – have seen their lives transformed, going on to become successful and happy adults.

In Scotland, nearly three-quarters of the children in care who are looked after away from home and family live with foster families on any one day – that’s 5279 children in around 4375 foster families.

Earlier this year at the Children in Scotland conference in Edinburgh, Alan Baird, the Chief Social Work Adviser to the Scottish Government, gave his response to the National Foster Care Review’s report and recommendations.

Director of the Fostering Network Scotland, Sara Lurie, is delighted the Government has supported the recommendations of the fostering review.

“We are delighted that placement limits will be introduced, meaning that foster carers will only be required to look after a maximum of three unrelated fostered children, except in exceptional circumstances,” she says.

Research continues on a minimum allowance for foster carers and Lurie is keen to see the decision to allow young people to stay with their foster carers until the age of 21 amended to include those who were 16 last month and not in April 2015 as announced.

For a child in care to succeed, it is essential their foster carers are given all the help and support they need.

TACT Scotland gives extensive training, which covers all aspects of being a carer. It also provides a social worker who will visit regularly and there is a contact line for help and support that operates 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. The Fostering Network in Scotland says a further 850 foster families need to be recruited this year.

Potential foster carers approach TACT Scotland for many reasons. They might be thinking of a new career, or have grown-up children who have left home. Or they simply might want to provide a new loving family for a young person in care, which can be the most rewarding job in the world.