IF you\u2019ve ever considered opening your home to a young person needing foster care, Child and Family Services is encouraging you to speak up and help out.<\/p>\n
Cafs CEO Wendy Sturgess said her team would like to place 60 children per night with safe, emotionally and physically-prepared foster families, but the organisation currently has a gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need just over 90 accredited carers, so we\u2019re looking to recruit 17 new people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can be a lengthy process. People need to have a room in their home and they need to be prepared to make a commitment, but it\u2019s a really broad range of people who can become foster carers, whether their young, old, in a same-sex couple, are teachers or retirees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s people who have room in their lives to look after children, whether it\u2019s for a month, or a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Sturgess said the infants, children or teenagers being placed in foster care cannot currently live in their own home, but Cafs\u2019 goal is to help young people transition back to be with their own families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support their family, with other services, so these children can ultimately go home. Not all of them can, but we hope that most of them can be transitioned home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important if we can keep young people in this community. If they can stay close to their school and family connections, they do better. If they move and lose those links, they\u2019re disadvantaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organisation often receives feedback from foster carers about how \u201cincredibly rewarding\u201d their role is.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether they\u2019ve got children in their existing family or not, they overwhelmingly say they get a lot from giving care to someone else in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a vulnerable society. It\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but it takes a village to raise a child and COVID has heightened that in our community,\u201d Ms Sturgess said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething tangible we can do is reach out and say, \u2018I\u2019ve got a room, I\u2019ll do the training, I think it will help my family, and be a learning experience that will bond us, and our wider circle\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although a positive way to give back to the community, Ms Sturgess doesn\u2019t shy away from acknowledging the challenges that come with foster care.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often have trouble finding homes for older children, but they\u2019re desperately grateful to be in a family.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies say providing stability to these young people, offering good parenting and nurturing them is uplifting for everyone involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Those interested in becoming a foster carer are invited to have a phone consult with Cafs. If they\u2019re eligible, face-to-face meetings and training would follow.<\/p>\n
New carers may begin offering respite, which Ms Sturgess said is incredibly valuable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re there 24-seven along the way, literally, offering support in terms of skills and strategies, because a lot of these young people have come from traumatic experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cCafs has cared for children for over 155 years, so there\u2019s a lot that we do know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n