Foster parents desperately needed

Seeing these troubled children flourish one day is the greatest reward, writes CATHERINE MASTERS.

In an ideal world foster parents would be out of work.

No demand for their services would mean no children in society ever needed to be taken away from home and placed with strangers or extended family for their own care or protection.

Sadly, says Malcolm Yorston, chairman of the Family and Foster Care Federation, instead there is a serious shortage of foster parents and the country desperately needs more.

But not everyone makes it in what can be one of the toughest jobs around - and couples too old to have their own children should never look on it as an easy option.

"If you've got compliant children then it's not an issue. But, you don't always get compliant children who never put a foot wrong. Normally it's the background that they've come from, the environment they've come from.

"We really do need to have more parents with an ability to work with children and develop them to their full potential, increasing their self-esteem and getting them to be good citizens.

"It's an ongoing need because the number of children coming into care is growing all the time," says Mr Yorston.

This time last year Mr Yorston's family had taken in an extra three children. This year they have five. Add to that their own two children and three adopted children and (with two away) that means living at home right now are eight children: "That's a lot of kids, yeah ... "

"But you know, the needs are such, it doesn't matter if it's Child, Youth and Family, Barnardos, Open Home or whatever [agency], these kids are in need of care and where do they go if there aren't the trained experienced caregivers about, where do they go to if there are no new caregivers coming on? It's the old ones who take up the slack ... "

Mr Yorston makes no bones about it, the job can be tough. Some children arrive from broken homes, where they may have been abused, beaten and verbally berrated from birth and these children can burn out even the most experienced foster families.

"What are we looking for in foster parents? People who are dedicated and put the kids' needs first, not their own needs."

Sometimes older people who cannot have their own children and cannot adopt turn to fostering and that can work out fine - if they are doing it for the child, not themselves.

"The thing is you have got to think of the child's needs, not your own needs. That's what you have got to focus on first. If you are doing it for your own needs then you are not doing it for the right reasons. If you are doing it for the child's needs and you can give the child a good home, that's fine."

Foster parents come from every income bracket - although there are fewer in the top income bracket. Some are sole parents, others have big families of their own.

Board payments have not moved lately and the cost of bringing up children is enormous.

Mr Yorston gets around $140 a week per child but that must cover everything from doctors visits to clothes and expenses.

Child, Youth and Family payments are lower but they pay for clothing and so forth, so in the end the amounts level out.

"We believe that in a lot of cases it would be costing most foster parents $20 to $50 a week extra."

Despite the difficulties and expense, the rewards are many, says Mr Yorston.

"When you see a child come in with low self-esteem, who can't learn and with people saying he's a terrible child, and you help that child to grow, to get to the stage where he is no longer disruptive in class, where he looks forward to going to school, and you have built his self-esteem up so he is going to be a good citizen - when you start seeing that, that's the rewards."

For more information on fostering:

* Child, Youth and Family: 0508 FAMILY (0508 326-459).

* Barnardos: (09) 623-3350.

* Open Home Foundation: (09) 634-2057. Or call the Family and Foster Care Federation on (09) 573-3058 or (03) 216-5269