If you like children and you think you have enough patience to take care of them, you might want to consider a career in foster care. Aside from changing the lives of these kids and understanding them better, you can also grow into a better person with a kinder and more considerate attitude. However, the foster care system in the country and be confusing for a newbie.
There are Several Children under Foster Care
In the United States alone, there are around 400,000 children that are taken care of by foster parents. Most of them were not at fault, as they might have been extracted from their house as the court ordered to prevent neglect, abuse, and other family problems that may affect their well-being. What they need is love and support that many foster families may be able to provide.
Reunification is the Primary Goal
The main purpose of foster care is to become a safe place for a child and their family so that they can resolve disputes and adapt healthy mechanisms. The end goal for this is that the child may be able to return home and be safe there. Foster care centers do this by determining the appropriate methods that will allow the family to stabilize, helping the children back to their homes in the process.
However, if it is not possible, the goal of foster homes becomes custodianship or independent living for children who are near the legal age. There are cases where children are eventually adopted by foster parents.
Foster Homes are Temporary
Most foster care centers are working hard to help a child find a permanent place where they can safely stay at the least time possible. On average, foster children only spend a year or less in the foster home before their birth families are reunited with them. In this time, adoptive parents are the ones who give them the right love and attention while working hard to develop the relationship of the child with their family. Doing so will allow the family to reunite as soon as possible. If the reunification does not work due to many circumstances, the foster home will now focus on finding a loving family that will adopt the child.
Becoming a foster parent is not easy. It takes perseverance, patience, and passion for becoming successful in this line of work. However, knowing that you are changing people’s lives for the better should be enough of a reward.
…