Information for foster parents

Good support for foster parents when a child arrives at home is extremely important and has a big impact on whether the goals of foster care are achieved.

Support

The support that is needed varies depending on the foster care measures in place and the foster parents themselves. The child protection services that place a child in foster care should provide the child and foster parents with the necessary support during the course of the foster care.

Foster care is a team effort of the parties involved in caring for and supporting the child. In that team, foster parents play an important role and can seek advice and support.

Each foster care agreement details what support is available, and how the outcome will be evaluated for each and every measure, intervention or service.

Items that could be mentioned in a foster contract include:

• Possible therapy, e.g. interviews with a psychologist or others

• Essential healthcare, medication or training

• How the foster care will be conducted

• Arrangements for regular consultations of those involved in the case of the child

• Visits of child protection officers to foster homes during foster care

• Other support services, as appropriate, e.g. in the child's school or with increased work commitment from foster parents

Mentoring

Mentoring is one form of support for foster parents that takes place through individual or group interviews.

In the case of supervision, foster parents can discuss their role with an external professional who is not part of the foster care process, or with the child protection worker who is in charge of the case of the foster child. If foster parents are interested in receiving external supervision, they can request it from the child protection services.

The aim of mentoring is to strengthen foster parents in their role, to provide reflection and feedback, a look at challenges from a different perspective, and suitable ways to take on their role.

Foster parents face challenges in their role and can experience various emotions and thoughts that can be beneficial to discuss. Part of mentoring is to make foster parents aware of how their own feelings, thoughts and behavior affect the situation.

They can also receive appropriate guidance in dealing with challenges in their role, breaking up negative patterns of communication between family members, and dealing with communication with other systems in a successful manner.

Mentoring can help prevent burnout, and work against fatigue leading to loss of empathy.

Other advice

Also, foster parents can contact the National Agency for Children and Families for consultation on foster care issues.