“Children In Care Miss Out” « Foster Care Victoria

“Children In Care Miss Out”

July 11, 2008 at 3:57 pm | In Articles, Issues for Fostering, Media | Leave a Comment
Tags: children in care miss out, friends, The Age

This article in yesterday’s edition of The Age, “Children In Care Miss Out”, makes an important point. However, it also seemed to criticize foster carers by suggesting that they are not doing enough to assist children develop a healthy social life by allowing them to see their friends. I would like to point out that in many situations one of the primary reasons that children in care do not frequently “see friends outside the classroom” is that they simply do not have many friends. Children and young people in care often have difficulty creating and maintaining relationships, due to past trauma or abuse, and can have behaviours which may seem strange to other children and which may be challenging for them to accept. The best way we can assist children and young people in developing a healthy social network is to provide them with stability, counselling and understanding. So we should not pin this statistic on the carers. Instead, let’s examine the real reasons behind this sad situation and work together to support these children and young people any way we can.