What Should I Know About Foster Parenting?

Foster parenting is an important community service that helps children in need. When children are removed from their parents' home because they suffer from abuse or neglect, Child Protective Services must find a temporary home for the children. Foster parents are people who volunteer their homes in order to care for the needs of children who have been the victims of abuse or neglect.

Foster parenting requires that a person is patient and loving. A foster parent must be prepared to take a child into her home and ensure that the child lives in a safe, caring environment. Foster parenting is one of the most difficult tasks a person can undertake since foster children require a great deal of attention and understanding. Many foster children may resent their foster parents because the children have been taken away from the only environment they have ever known, even if it was an abusive place.

Frequently, foster kids deal with anger issues because they have been neglected and abused, whether physically, mentally, sexually, or emotionally. They may display behavior problems, taking out their anger on the foster parents. Foster parenting requires that a person deals with such behavior and emotional issues in a loving, patient manner.

Each child in the foster care system has different needs and backgrounds. A foster parent must be willing to work with social workers, the court, and biological parents to determine a permanency plan for each child. Social workers will visit the home regularly, sometimes even once a month. A foster parent must also be prepared to work with the foster child's school in order to ensure that the child's educational needs are met. Foster parents must also provide transportation to medical and counseling appointments.

In order to deal with the demands of foster parenting, foster parents receive training to become foster care volunteers. This training is an ongoing process, enabling the foster parent to become fully equipped to care for a child within the home. Foster parents receive monetary assistance to care for the needs of the child and are provided with programs and services to help them effectively raise any foster child placed within their home.

A foster child is only placed within a home temporarily. The goal of foster care is to reunite the child with her biological parents if possible. For this reason, foster parents must give their love to a child, knowing that the child will leave their home someday. Becoming a foster parent is a way to rescue a suffering child who needs a safe place to live. Although the job is a difficult one, it allows adults to contribute to the welfare of another human being, providing her with the hope of a better life.