News again! « Foster Care Victoria

News again!

April 30, 2008 at 10:46 am | In Articles, Events, Issues for Fostering, Media | 1 Comment
Tags: babies, Herald Sun, Kylie Cubbon

*This photo belongs to the Herald Sun

Yesterday’s article, Hard Times Foster and Carer Crisisin the Herald Sun has sparked quite a response with many calls to the Centre for Excellence from people wanting to find out more which is fantastic news.

Although the online comments appear to show a) a misunderstanding in the community about foster care and how the system works, and b) some disgruntled past and potential carers frustrated at a lack of support and resources.

To the latter category of people, I hear you and I agree, though I think we should all raise our hats to both DHS workers and foster care workers alike for their perseverance in a thankless, stressful, under-paid, under-staffed, under-funded and under-resourced job. While I am sorry to hear of negative experiences of foster care all I can say is that we are all doing the best we can.

To the former category, removal of children is never an easy decision and is always a last resort. This issue is completely separate Apology made on February 13th which acknowledged the injustice of forced removal based on race, rather than on the safety and best interests of the child. Foster care is the temporary care of a child where the hope is always on reunification with the birth family. Foster carers are not expected to be perfect but it is a responsibility of those in the field to make sure that a child is safe from harm and provided with adequate care.

Although foster care is a challenging role at times, as Kylie will attest, it is also an immensely rewarding one.

Anyone interested should consider coming along to an information evening, check the events listing for details.

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[...] The impact for some Victorian foster care agencies has been a increased need for baby carers, as Anglicare Victoria told The Herald Sun last year. [...]

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