By Barry Sutton
In May 2022 the Government published a Review of Children’s Care which iden-tified a shortage of 9,000 Foster Homes to house children in need. That is a lot of children who are missing out on a caring home environment.
So why is there such a shortage? Well, if my experience is anything to go by it is due to inaccurate preconceptions about what being a foster carer involves – or rather what it does not involve. I live in Ashford and have been a foster carer for over four years. Had I been more knowledgeable about what was involved I may well have stepped forward ten years earlier to help families and chil-dren in difficult circumstances.
I find many people who say they would like to foster, but could not afford to do so. In re-ality fees and allowances are typically £20,000 per annum per child from most foster care agencies and this is tax free for the first child and in many cases the second also. More than enough to cover the associated costs of the child/children.
So do I foster “for the money”? Well the point is that I couldn’t afford to foster without the money and I would earn a lot more money if I didn’t foster!
So what are the other common misconcep-tions? Well, there are many and I couldn’t possibly cover them all in a short article such as this, but allow me to tackle a few.
Single people cannot be foster carers NOT TRUE
Same sex couples cannot be foster carers NOT TRUE
There is an age limit to be a foster carer NOT TRUE
Foster Carers are not paid NOT TRUE
Foster Carers have no say in which children come to their home NOT TRUE
Foster Carers have to give up work to be a foster carer NOT TRUE
Foster Carers cannot have holidays without taking foster children NOT TRUE
Foster Carers have to work for the Local Au-thority where they live NOT TRUE
Foster Carers cannot work part-time NOT TRUE
Being a Foster Carer is very easy and not hard work DEFINITELY NOT TRUE!
I would like to invite people who may want to find out more to contact me at fostercarerin-formation@gmail.com or 07740 605909. Per-haps you just have a couple of questions, per-haps you would like to meet up for an infor-mal chat. Perhaps you would like to meet up in a group with other people who are interest-ed. Being a foster carer is not for everyone but before you decide it isn’t for you make sure that decision is based on the true picture. Maybe it is a case of no, not now, but you will have the knowledge to decide when it might be worth re-visiting.
By Barry Sutton
Barry Sutton is a foster carer in Ashford