Foster Parents Can Offer Children a Lifeline During a Bad Period

The role that foster parents play in completing the lives of children who cannot afford their homes deserves significant credit. Foster care is all about out-of-home care that children who cannot stay with their families can access. Foster caregivers, also known as foster parents, are legal guardians that possess the ideal qualifications to take these children into their homes. Children can be forced into foster care for several reasons. They include:

• Incarceration - When one or both of the children's parents are in jail, the court could determine that the home environment is no longer safe for the child. Thus, recommend foster care.
• Domestic Violence - In the clear evidence of a history of family violence, which is usually highly associated with neglect and various types of abuse, the children must find foster care.
• Exposure to Potential Risk - Children will have to go to foster parents when there are clear concerns that living with their parents and under the current condition is inadequate or unsafe. For example, drug dealing parents.
• Disabilities and Inabilities - Circumstances such as poor mental health of parents, drug addiction issues, and other disabilities can cause unstable homes resulting in the need for foster parents.

The Roles and Responsibilities of Foster Parents

Foster homes are more or less like a home far away from home. Many foster children know this, which is why it is the foster parent's role to establish a conducive environment free from any types of addiction, neglect, or abuse.

One of the primary rights for all children globally is education. Every child out there has the right to quality education, despite their home settings. Foster parents must ensure they provide, monitor, and encourage the child’s education.

Splitting up of parents is one of the worst experiences for minors. Children who are forced to stay away from their siblings or parents deal with trauma, feel neglected, and to some extent, unloved. Foster parents can create a home where love, care, and concern are the primary values.

All children deserve quality healthcare no matter the financial status, cognitive abilities, or family structures back home. Foster parents take on this role to ensure that each child has access to quality healthcare services and facilities by the end of the day. Foster parents cater for the cost of all medical expenses associated with the children’s well-being.

Competent foster parents understand that taking on professional care and concern for kids comes with endless responsibilities not entirely stipulated by law. This means that if the child has talent and skills in certain life areas or has incomparable techniques in handling various aspects, the foster parent should nurture this gift.

Suppose the Family Court does not rule out that the child must stay in permanent away-from-home custody, the foster parents can use this opportunity to establish proper communication between the child and the biological family. Rather than blocking attempts for this re-union, foster parents should embrace the opportunity to establish healthy contact.

Children respond differently to separation. Others may consider foster parents as the savior of their lives while other children view them as destructive factors. Foster parents need to look beyond this and manage every child’s behavior to fit into socially accepted norms, lest the child ends up in juvenile, jail or worse circumstances.

In most cases, the Family Court usually rules in favor of temporary foster care. However, the court can rule for permanent foster care custody if there is insurmountable evidence that the children's current home conditions and parents are unsafe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Obviously this is an important topic. Parenting children is one of the hardest things possible and being a good foster parent is even trickier. Some common questions about foster parenting include: 

Q: What is the reward for being a foster parent?

A: The idea of giving someone else’s child a safe, nurtured, loving, and caring environment is fulfilling for foster parents.

Q: What is the biggest challenge about being a foster parent?

A: Financial constraints, difficulty helping children adjust, and possible clinginess can be tricky hurdles to jump over. 

Q: How can foster parents assist in adjusting?

A: Encouraging open communication, trust, respect, and privacy is vital.

Q: How can contact with the real family help foster children?

A: This contact and reunion fosters stability, resilience, ideal character development and promotes the sense of belonging. Obviously, each situation is different.