FACTORS such as economic deprivation and drug and alcohol abuse exact a heavy toll on the lives of families in urban areas. So it’s a cruel irony that foster carers in cities are especially hard to come by for the rising number of children forced in
to the care system.
As we enter Foster Care Fortnight, Edinburgh City Council is urging those who have thought about fostering before to take the next step.
Kirstie Maclean, service manager of family based care at the council, says people often don’t feel they have the space and time in the city.
“The difficulties particular to Edinburgh are that, because of high-living costs, people often don’t have a spare bedroom and often both adults are working full time.
“There is a city effect and in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee, we all have foster carers outwith our boundaries.”
Currently around 300 people foster children through Edinburgh City Council, about a third of whom are carers based outside the city boundaries.
There are many reasons why people decide to foster – perhaps they can’t have children themselves, their offspring have flown the nest, or they just want to help. But contrary to popular misconceptions, you don’t have to be married or in a relationship to foster, nor do you have to own your own home.
“Tolerance and patience are the strong attributes people need to have,” stresses Kirstie, “as well as an understanding of children, flexibility, a sense of humour and a bit of extra space in their home.”
The council offers training to anyone interested in fostering some of the 40 children waiting for a placement in Edinburgh, who range from babies right up to teenagers.
Kirstie highlights how rewarding fostering can be, but she is also frank about the difficulties involved – at least half the babies taken into care are born addicted to drugs or with foetal alcohol syndrome.
“If someone wants a child without problems then they shouldn’t be a foster carer. Numbers of children in care have been going up for the last five or six years mainly because of drug and alcohol abuse. The number of carers has also been going up, but not at the same rate.
“It’s a challenge to find carers, but they make a huge difference to a child’s life and a contribution to society. Once people start fostering they get hooked.”
Voluntary adoption and fostering agency St Andrew’s Children’s Society helps Edinburgh City Council – and other councils throughout Scotland and England – to find placements for children in care.
Director Stephen Small says that one of the greatest challenges is finding foster carers for older children.
He says: “Children over eight or nine are more challenging because they will have had a longer period of disruption and trauma and their behaviour may be more difficult to manage.
“But most foster carers are resilient and realise these children have been given up on by others and they need to stick with them. That’s what is most impressive about foster carers – their sense of duty.”
The society gives one day and three evenings of training to would-be foster carers to help them understand the experiences children in care might have had and how these can affect their behaviour and emotions.
“We help them with the legal system and how their own children cope with someone else coming into their home. After that if they are still interested we take their applications.”
Stephen says that around 70 per cent of those who go through their training, who can be aged from 21 upwards, go on to foster. He adds: “A lot of what we hear about children who have been removed from their families and placed in the care system is negative. But our foster carers tell us that these are just ordinary children who want to be treated in an ordinary way. The great reward is to see how you can make a big difference to a child.”
HEATHER WILSON, 43, a desktop publisher, and her husband Alex, 45, a ground worker, began trying for children of their own as soon as they married in 1999.
But they began fostering Sharon five years ago when she was five after they were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. When Sharon arrived, having been with three foster families in just over two years, she was insecure, attention-seeking and had an alarming vocabulary of swear words.
But the devoted couple gave Sharon the security she craved and adopted her a year later. Since then they have fostered five youngsters, aged from five months to three years old.
Heather says there’s a huge feel-good factor to be gained from fostering. “It’s really rewarding. Every day is different and it’s great to see these kids thriving. After Sharon had been with us for a while we were desperate to help more. I love it and Sharon tells us to help these kids as she has such an affinity with them. It’s benefited her too – she’s grown up a lot.”
And can anyone do it? “All you need is an extra room and lots of time, love and patience,” adds Heather.
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Foster Care Fortnight runs until May 27. For more information on fostering call freephone 0800-174 833 or go to the website: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/fostering The full article contains 938 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
