Willing carers « Foster Care Victoria

Willing carers

An interesting debate has been sparked here after this post:

Researcher Indigo Willing, who was adopted from a Vietnamese orphanage in 1972, will propose a way to tackle the twin problems of long waiting lists for couples seeking overseas adoptions, and the chronic shortage of foster parents for children in Australia. Ms Willing said that if parents waiting to adopt were automatically asked to become foster parents — either instead of or as well as adopting from overseas — both problems would abate.

Though this plan looks like it ticks all boxes, experience tells us that its probably not as easy that. Firstly, the understanding that foster care is temporary care of someone else’s child is a cornerstone of the provision of healthy relationships to develop between child and carer, and if possible, with the birth family. There are often emotional obstacles for carers if there is a confusion of this role with other roles such as adoptive parents, where the child becomes your own.

Secondly, our state has worked really hard to create a screening process to make sure prospective carers are motivated by a desire to care for children in need. I think it would be problematic to blur the boundaries of the motivations towards one where foster caring is a means to another desire, and I’m not convinced that people in this situation, that is, forced to care, would be able to provide adequate care for that child.

Having said that, I myself have spoken at an inter-country adoption information session about foster care, inviting people who already have broad views about what makes a family to consider this area with significant success.

What we should focus on, in my opinion, is improving the supports around carers, as well as our valuing of the foster caring role to encourage more people to willingly take responsibility for caring for our neighbours.

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