The first thing foster children need is foster carers. However, as statistics will show, far fewer applicants are coming forward. Many that applied in 2021/2022 in the UK withdrew their applications, despite generous allowances being paid. The world economy has been on a decline since Covid and the Russia-Ukraine war, with talk of global inflation. Once the numbers of foster homes are up, the question still remains. What do foster children need? We provide some of the answers below.
Insufficient Foster Carers – Thousands Needed!
Every year, thousands of new children in care are in need of foster homes in the UK. With the global state of world economics and its impact on ordinary households, Ofsted produced statistics showing that 5,435 UK foster carer homes deregistered for the 2021/2022 year. Almost 15% of these potential carers had been approved during this period. The number of new applications was at an all-time low.
Without foster carers, there is no foster care. Urgent steps are needed to encourage contemporary foster parents to continue fostering and to find more dedicated applicants. These children have often come from dire circumstances and bad environments. They are in need of a foster home.
Roughly 40% of the children in care who need fostering are teenagers in the 11–15-year age bracket. Therefore, it is a major priority to find the right fostering homes for these teens. Other groups with an overwhelming need for foster carers are:
- Children seeking asylum that are not accompanied by adults
- Unplaced siblings
- Young mothers with their babies
- Children with disabilities
- Children with learning problems
Stability
Although foster carers are meant to only look after a child until they can be returned to their family, this often extends into years and some foster children will need a foster home until they complete their schooling. Thus, the greatest need these children have is for stability. Ideally, they can placed with one family for the duration of their school years. Of course, some placements may be short-term until the right environment is found for a particular child.
Contact with Biological Families
Foster children want to maintain contact with their birth families. Hard as this may be for a foster carer to understand, these children have been uprooted from their homes, however bad the circumstances were.
The fostering agency, such as Fosterplus, will determine whether contact with the biological family is in the foster child’s interests or not. Their concern is the wellbeing of the child. Foster carers need to understand this primary bond and directed by their social worker.
In the same vein, there is a natural attachment that develops between foster children and foster carers. This makes it hard to let go of the child when it is time to do so. Foster carers should accept that this will happen from time to time and be prepared to let the child go happily to the next stage in their lives.
The needs of the foster child must come first. If you feel that you can make the commitment to helping one or many children to live a better life, don’t hesitate. There are children out there in need of good foster homes.