Fostering the Future
Children in care deserve the best chance to make their future bright. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things make this a reality.
Back when the Minister for Child Safety, Phil Reeves, launched the government initiative focused on informing the public about the need for more foster carers; I was thinking about the specific campaign slogan: ‘Foster a child, foster a future’. It somehow encapsulates in just a few words the expectations we have for ordinary people to undertake extraordinary things.
I know how extraordinary fostering is, because I see first-hand the challenges which arise for ordinary people when they take responsibility for the daily care of children who have suffered rejection, neglect, abuse and trauma. I see, all the time, how these ordinary people make a difference and help children to overcome their difficulties and grow up happy and healthy.
Following the launch of this initiative I dropped in on one of our foster carers and we spent some time reflecting on the last ten months she has had with her current placement and just what has been achieved for the two children in her care.
And she told me this; “Everything is challenging at the beginning, and then you just start getting used to it. And then you start seeing things change.”
In my mind, these words immediately connected with the sentiments behind ‘Foster a child, foster a future’.
The carer I met with today has her eyes firmly set on the future and, because of this, she is motivated to make a difference, today and every day that follows. She and her family see a child’s potential and they work hard to encourage this and bring it to full development. Thanks to that, the children I saw today are so different to the ones I met ten months ago. It really is so inspiring.
I was also reminded of how we have to keep up the energy to continue recruiting carers all the time. And we particularly need foster carers for children who are seen to present a challenge due to their age, their behaviours, or a disability, or just because they haven’t had the opportunity to stay in one placement.
Children in the care of the State deserve the best opportunities to make their future bright. And it is ordinary people doing extraordinary things who help make this a reality.
Are you thinking of fostering? Call Key Assets today on 1800 932 273 or enquire online.
It’s the emphasis on the future that catches me.