Fostering is about caring for children who need a safe and loving home. If that’s something you can provide, you can become a foster carer too. However, it’s important to properly understand all the responsibilities that fostering entails before you apply. Take a quick look through the following points and see how you feel about some of the main responsibilities associated with fostering.
Housing
All foster carers are responsible for housing the children given in their care. Therefore, you must have at least one spare bedroom in your home for each child in your home. Even when a child is not living in that room, you will still be expected to keep the room responsibly maintained. This will allow you to take in foster children on short notice, when necessary.
Dedication
Foster carers are not barred from holding other jobs, but there are certain conditions to consider beforehand. Every foster carer must dedicate as much time as is needed to take care of the children entrusted to them. Therefore, any job that you might hold simultaneously should be flexible enough to give you that time.
Your responsibilities towards the foster children will always need to be prioritised ahead of any other professional obligations. Speaking to your agency, such as Orange Grove Foster Care, prior to fostering a child is a good idea so that you know what to expect.
Finance
Foster care providers receive an allowance from the local authority or the fostering agency that they sign up with. These funds are supposed to:
- Cover all fostering expenses related to the children in their care.
- Offer decent compensation to the foster carers for their time and dedication.
As a foster carer, you will be responsible for making sure that the allowance money goes first towards taking care of the foster children’s various nutritional, emotional, and educational requirements.
Security
Providing protection, safety, and security to the children in care are default responsibilities of foster carers. A lot of children and older teens come into the system under stressful conditions. It falls on their foster carers to provide them with a safe and secure home environment. Your fostering agency will train you on how to achieve that.
Health
Foster carers are expected to take good care of each foster child’s health and well-being. This may mean different things for different children, but it usually includes responsibilities such as ensuring that:
- Their daily nutritional needs are met.
- They have easy access to their prescribed medication.
- They receive immediate medical attention if/when they need it.
- They don’t eat any food to which they are allergic or intolerant.
- They receive emotional support if/when they need it.
By now, you should have a good idea about the kind of responsibilities to expect. As for the rest, it’s the fostering agency’s responsibility to let you know all that you may need to know to carry out your various fostering responsibilities with due diligence.
