Last month the library hosted an information booth promoting foster parenting. Janet Nelson, a Resource Worker from Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society and Millbrook resident Diane Wray were on hand to answer questions about the rewards and challenges of welcoming children in transition into a warm family home through the foster parent program.
The Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS) manages the local foster care support system and is currently recruiting new foster parents.
Children’s Aid Societies across the province are facing a steady decline in available foster families to support young people who may come into our care. Without local foster families to provide safe and nurturing homes, many children and youth will face the prospect of being placed in homes or group homes outside of their communities, leaving them separated from family, friends, school, and all-important local community resources that are familiar to them.
he Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society is a child protection agency mandated under the Child and Family Services Act in Ontario. Our responsibility is to protect children from harm or the risk of harm due to neglect and physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Ideally, all children and youth would live with their own families but sometimes children need the support and safety of another family. In these cases the KHCAS manages the Foster Parent program to provide children with safe, predictable and supportive family homes.
Foster parents are individuals or couples with a genuine interest in children and a sense of community responsibility. They come from all walks of life, but share a common mission to provide safety and security for children. The organization seeks foster parents from all backgrounds, and need diversity of age, marital status, race, faith, class, gender and sexual orientation. Children need foster parents who are flexible, patient and consistent, and who are willing to support their faith, cultural, race and sexual identity and are prepared to address a wide range of emotional and/or behavioural challenges. Many children will return to the care of the parent or caretaker: foster parents provide the physical and emotional support to children until a permanent plan for their care is implemented. While not a prerequisite, past experience caring for children is considered an advantage.
There are 2 types of foster homes. One addresses emergency situations requiring an immediate response. Parents on that list can receive an urgent call in the middle of the night when children are being removed from a dangerous situation. These emergency home care stays are usually quite brief, lasting only until the organization finds longer-term solutions for the children. Most foster homes offer longer term support which can run from a few weeks to several years.
Fostering is not for everyone. It can be more challenging than raising a child of your own because so much about the child’s background is unknown, and by definition, the child has faced challenges or they would not require foster support. That being said, the rewards can be exceptional, even if they sometimes arrive after the fact. Foster parents report visits from former foster children who want to share their success stories and acknowledge the support from the adults who helped them during a time of great stress.
Diane Wray of Millbrook has been a foster parent for more than 15 years. The shortest stay of a child in her care has been less than 24 hours, but usually children stay for much longer. Eventually children leave their foster parents, because the foster home is always intended to be a transitional home rather than a permanent one. The departure can be difficult for one side or both. Children are often returning to one or both of their parents, a legal guardian or a family member who has agreed to assume responsibility for the child(ren). It can be most challenging to support children as they leave out of concern for their destination. In my experience as a foster parent, the children were eager to return to a parent who provided a less-than-ideal home situation. In the end, there is a hole in the heart that only a parent can fill.
If you are interested in exploring the possibility of providing a safe and nurturing home for children who are unable to do so safely in their own home, visit www.khas.on.caor call 705-743-9751.