Foster Care
What is foster care?
Foster care offers alternative family care to children whose parents cannot provide this for them in their own families for a variety of reasons. Foster care gives children a second chance to experience family living, while helping them to come to terms with what led to them coming into care, and facilitating them, in most instances, to keep in touch with their birth families.
Many aspects of foster care are identical to ordinary parenting, though there are some extra tasks added.
The ordinary duties of fostering are:
To help the child develop their own basic physical care and to respond to the child’s health needs
- To help the child develop self esteem through his presentation and appearance, and to give him an understanding of personal possessions.
- To support the child’s education in order to enable him to reach his full potential.
- To help the child understand the necessity of routine and discipline.
- To develop the child’s social behaviour and attitudes.
- To encourage the child to manage his own leisure time, ensuring opportunities for recreational activities.
- To protect the child from hazardous substances and ensure general safety in the home.
- To assist with the child’s religious development in keeping with his own and his family’s cultural and religious beliefs.
Extra duties which distinguish fostering from ordinary parenting are:
- Ensuring the best possible relations with the child’s parents and extended family members, and co-operating with agreed contact arrangements.
- Assisting the child in developing a "cover story" about why he is in care, if necessary.
- Supporting the child in addressing why he is in care at changing developmental stages and helping him with his feelings on this issue.
- Communicating openly and efficiently with the HSE about the child’s placement.
- Attending foster care training and meetings about the child as required.
- Being involved in a mutual support network with other foster carers as appropriate.
- Seeking help from the HSE immediately with any concerns relating to fostering.
- Having a basic understanding of the legal requirements of foster care.
- Working with social workers and other agencies, as required, including participation in multi-professional meetings about the child, and including child care planning and review meetings.
- Providing information, in writing or verbally, to social workers and other agencies if required and maintaining a record of significant events in fostering, if requested to do so.
Why children come into care
Children come into state care when their parents are unable to care for them for a
combination of reasons. The main difficulties concern parental addiction problems,
mental health problems, domestic violence within their families, a combination of
physical, sexual and emotional abuse and abandonment of children, as well as
problems connected to the children and their behaviour. These problems largely arise
from the children’s experience of family living.
It is important to point out that most children admitted to care will have a
combination of these circumstances in their backgrounds. Parental addiction
problems often include drug and alcohol use. Abandonment can be of a temporary
or permanent nature.
Ages of children in care
Children can be admitted to care at any age, from birth to 18 years. Many people are
interested in fostering younger children. During 2003, 56 per cent of the children in
care in Ireland were under 12 years of age, with the remaining 44 per cent aged
between 13 and 18 years. So while our greater need is for foster families for the
younger age group, we also need to provide alternative family care for a very
significant number of older children.
It is important to point out that some of these children are reunited with their
families during the year, when social workers and other professionals are able to
offer help to enable parents to resume care of their children. Other children remain
in care for longer periods, with some remaining for most of their childhood years.
Genders and siblings groups
Historically, there are always slightly more boys available to be fostered than girls.
During 2003, 51 per cent of children in care were male. It is common that we require
foster families for sibling groups. Most foster families are requested to take no more
than two children into their homes, though exceptions can be made for larger sibling
groups, provided the foster families are in a position to do so without unduly
interfering with their responsibilities to their own children.
Children with special needs
Some children who need foster care may have special needs, some of which are a
consequence of the difficulties their families have experienced. About 26 percent of
children admitted to care have particular needs. These include difficulty with hearing
and learning, as well as behavioural and emotional problems. Other children have
difficulties with their attention span or are hyperactive. Eight hundred and fifty
children of international origins who are in care throughout Ireland have particular
cultural needs. During 2003 there was an increase of just over ten percent of
children from overseas in care. Occasionally a teenage girl may be pregnant when
she comes into care. Other children need regular physiotherapy services.
Specific therapeutic services
In addition to the special needs outlined above, some children are identified as needing therapeutic services once they are in care. These include referral to family
centres, community psychology services, child guidance clinics, art therapy, child
sexual abuse treatment, or services provided from community child care workers.
The focus for many of these services is to help children come to terms with the
reason for coming into care and to address the grief they feel at separation from
their birth families. Provision of these services also aims to support foster families
in their care of the children.
You can foster if you can provide a family life for a child who cannot live with his own family. People who foster enjoy children and are interested in helping them come to terms with why they have had to leave their own homes.
Marital status
We are happy to accept applications from couples, whether married or not, from single people, members of the gay and lesbian community or those who are divorced or separated. It is not essential for you to have your own children to foster. If you do, we prefer if they are of school going age by the time you take a child into your home. Some people who have considered inter-country adoption and decide not to proceed with the process, apply to foster.
Employment
People who foster can be employed or unemployed. If both partners in a couple or a single foster carer are working full time, we will need to discuss child care arrangements and availability.
Education
Foster carers come from a variety of educational backgrounds. Many have not completed secondary school education. All that is required is a commitment to help a
child reach his full educational potential.
Home ownership requirements
If you do not own your own home, as long as you have security of tenure, fostering can still be an option for you. A foster child will not always need his own room, though it is important to have enough space to offer adequate accommodation.
Health requirements
Foster carers need to pass a medical examination carried out by their own general practitioner. The HSE encourages a non-smoking policy in all foster homes.
Legal requirements
Garda clearances are required for all persons aged over 18 years living in the
household. The HSE will also carry out a local authority check to see if we already know applicants in any capacity.
Family relationships
Fostering places extra demands on families. Therefore, your family life and relationships need to be stable and secure. Many foster families have had experience of personal adversity and challenges in their own lives. Sometimes this can be of help to them in fostering some one else’s child. If you have similar experiences, we will discuss these with you in your assessment to ensure that fostering is the right choice for you and for any child who may come to your home. It is important that the whole family is in agreement about the desire to foster.
Religion
Applications are welcome from all religious persuasions. Birth families can exercise their right to have their child cared by a family of their own religion. The extent to which foster carers practice their religion varies from family to family.
Team work
Foster carers are required to co-operate with the HSE in providing for the child’s
care. The guiding rule is that the child’s best interests are the overriding consideration in all plans made for the child.
We need more foster families
The aim of this article is to highlight our need for more foster families for children in need and to give you a realistic picture of the children concerned. Remember that support and training will be provided for anyone who decides to go further and that you will have the opportunity to discuss what kind of fostering suits you best during your assessment period. More carers are always needed to provide this valuable service to children in need. We hope you can give serious consideration to joining our team of foster carers.
Written by
Ireland's leading Early Years education Magazine
