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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Time to step up: A child per classroom needs care

Foster parents Skye and Peter… “I think that if you have the capacity and love to foster children, do it,” says Skye.

There are more than 800 children living in out-of-home care currently in the ACT. This is a sponsored post.

THERE are more than 800 children living in out-of-home care currently in the ACT – that’s one child in every Canberra classroom in need of care and protection, according to the ACT Together regional manager, Rebecca Jeffrey.

It’s startling, says Rebecca who admits that recruiting carers for Canberra’s most vulnerable children is a big challenge and the need for foster care is great.

“We need more people to be the protectors, the nurturers, the ‘for now’ or the ‘forever’ mums and dads,” she says.

During Foster and Kinship Care Week, which runs from September 13-19, ACT Together, a Barnardos Australia-led consortium of agencies created to provide services for children and young people in out-of-home care in the ACT, is calling on more people to consider “stepping up” and becoming a foster carer.

Skye, a long-term foster mother of three – aged 13, nine and eight – stepped up about 10 years ago when she and husband Peter found out it wasn’t possible to have children of their own.

She says becoming a foster parent was recommended to them by their fertility specialist as a wonderful option for them to have the family they had hoped for.

Shortly after completing their foster care training course Skye and Peter got a call from someone saying a three-year old boy needed their care.

Now, 10 years later, Skye says he is their eldest child, who was joined a few years later by a girl and then by their third child, another boy.

Skye says she delights in her family, which became even bigger because of their close connection with the children’s birth families.

“I think that if you have the capacity and love to foster children, do it,” says Skye.

“It’s all about the love you provide to a child, even if it’s for a short or long time, the change you can make to their lives is phenomenal.”

Foster parents Catherine and Shondy… “It is a very rewarding thing to do, helping a little person,” says Catherine.

Another couple, Catherine and her wife Shondy, who have a five-year-old, wanted to grow the family so decided to become foster carers.

They are currently caring for a little boy in a concurrent care situation.

“It means that he is placed with us while his long term care is being assessed, that might mean he will return to his parents, or end up in our care for the long term,” Catherine says.

While the couple would love for him to remain in their family, Catherine says they keep an open mind and focus on providing a safe and secure home for him.

She says the training and support provided by ACT Together has been excellent in preparing them to be foster parents and helping them understand the foster care system. 

“I think most people in Canberra would be surprised to know how much of a demand there is for children in our community to have a safe home. It is a very rewarding thing to do, helping a little person,” she says.     

Whether someone is single, married, gay, partnered, living in a full house, or empty nesters, Rebecca says there’s a need for carers who are able to care for a child for as little as a weekend, to carers who will welcome a child into their family for life.

“We are looking for carers for babies, sibling groups as well as teens who need assistance in navigating their way into adulthood,” she says.

To discuss the many options around foster care, Rebecca encourages that people get in touch and join their online carer panel to hear more from carers, who will speak about their experience and respond to questions.

Call 1300 WEFOSTER or visit acttogether.org.au

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