Living with a foster family

Why kids may need a foster family.

Many people foster the children of a relative who cannot take care of them at that time.

- Maybe mum or dad is sick.

- Maybe something bad happened to the family.

- Maybe a parent had to work somewhere else.

- Maybe the kids were being hurt, 'unsafe' or were not being properly looked after when they were at home.

* Sometimes kids can move around between foster families, but other times they may stay with a foster family until their own family can look after them again.

* Family services try to help families get back together.

Foster parents

People may want to become foster parents for many reasons.

All people who become foster parents do it because they want to help kids.

- Maybe they don't have kids of their own.

- Maybe their kids are grown up.

- Maybe they have their own kids but want to give a home to other kids who need help at that time.

- Maybe they want to help kids who have a disability.

Not everyone can become a foster parent.

The Government helps foster parents with money so that they can look after the kids in their care.

- People who want to foster kids have to be checked out by the Families SA office (or child and family services in your area).

- They make sure that foster parents are good, responsible people who haven't been in trouble with the police.

- Their home will be inspected and they often have to have some special training and may have to pass a special test.

A foster parent can be young or old, married or single, employed or staying at home. The main thing is that they will look after the kids in their care as long as the kids need looking after.

Living with a foster family

When a kid lives with a foster family, it can mean a lot of changes…

- a different place to live

- maybe a change of school, with new kids and new teachers to get to know

- learning about the rules in that house

- learning to get on with other kids in the house.

Sometimes it can be really hard, and the kid may also feel really worried or upset about his parents.

What is a social worker?

Each kid who goes into a foster home has a social worker who helps make up a special plan for the kid so that he or she knows what is happening.

The plan may show:

- what kind of help the family needs for them to get back together

- when the social worker will see the kid

- visits with mum, dad or other brothers and sisters.

The social worker is someone who kids can talk to about:

their own family

- how they are getting on with the foster family

- how they are getting on at school

- what is happening with their parents

- worries about being away from their family or maybe about having to return to their family

- problems they may be having with the foster family.

Social workers are good people to talk to about all these worries, because they help the family court make decisions about when a kid can live with his or her own family again.

What about the real parents?

Social workers will help the real parents of a child by making a plan with them too.

Their plan may include:

- visits with their children

- help with fixing up the things that have gone wrong in their lives

- maybe some training in managing a home or looking after kids.

If everything goes well, the family might get back together again.

Sometimes this is not possible, and the kid may stay with the same foster family or move to different foster families as she or he gets older.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16