What makes a good foster carer-edited Part 2 edition

What makes a good foster carer

 People with a variety of life experiences and from all religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds can become successful foster carers. To be a foster carer you'll need:

• patience and an understanding of the needs of children in foster care
• experience of looking after children
• time and energy to care for children who may have complex needs.

You'll also need to be able to understand and accept the child's background and be willing to work with family members as well as health, social services and education workers to promote the all round care of the children. You don't need to be married or own your home to be a foster carer but you do need to be committed to supporting children and young people to enable them to reach their full potential. Overall the role of a foster carer is to help children to feel settled, confident and happy whilst also being supportive of their family relationships.

We decided that as parents of 3 , that we had all those to offer and have felt so good to be able to provide a loving home to these children..

So mick and my role is more respite but we are on  call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and usually take children in for weekends...... Our children love how there are extra children in the house hold, and we dont take on any child that is older then brodie, as we want to be able for him to be able to understand what he is feeling before we take that huge step in taken some one older the him...

Financial support

Foster carers are paid:

• a weekly allowance to help with the day to day expense of looking after the child plus
• a fee for each child which varies depending on their age.

Higher fees are payable for some fostering schemes to recognise the extra work involved.

Now as we are temcare- respite carers the payments are diffrent to the department as the parents pay as a childcare payment..

Now when we done our training we were asked before the support worker was to contuie speaking who was there for fiancial reasons,. as any one that cares for children for money isnt worth looking after chuildren, now that may be a bit harsh, but what we all need to understand is some of these children dont choose to come into care, so they need some consideration whown to them, its like having one of your own, you wouldnt go out and have a baby for the money... So if you are considering that you have what it takes to be a carer, please contact your nearest child / family services...

Thank you