WHAT IS FOSTER CARE?
Short or medium-term temporary fostering is the planned placement of a child in a family for a few weeks, months or years. It provides a safe place for a child to live until it is possible to reunite the child and the parents, place a child in extended family care, or arrange an alternative longer-term or permanent option in accordance with the child’s developing care plan.
Foster parents are given training to assist them in meeting the emotional and physical needs of the children in their care. They are provided with a stipend as well as provision for the feeding, clothing, medical care and education of the child.
WHY FOSTER CARE?
Foster care as a preferable alternative to harmful forms of residential care.
Children are best served in families. Their complex needs cannot be fully met in institutional care. Scripture, research and common sense all agree on this fact. Only a family can provide the love, attention, emotional support and spiritual development a child needs. There are numerous studies highlighting the harm caused by residential care and benefits to children from foster care. Children reared in large-scale residential care had, on average, an IQ 20 points lower than their peers in foster care (Barth 2002). Young children who were moved from large-scale residential care to supported foster care before the age of two made dramatic developmental gains both cognitive and emotional compared to those who continued to live in residential care and whose situation worsened considerably (Nelson et al 2007).
Children who grew up in foster care attained higher levels of education and family stability, and had a lesser likelihood of arrest, or conviction or substance use problems, than those who had spent time in residential care. Adults formerly in foster homes were also more likely to have close friends and stronger informal support. Children living with a foster family are more likely to gain experience in carrying out daily household tasks, such as cleaning or cooking which can help to better prepare them for living independently (Barth 2002). Infants in small group care facilities scored worse on measures of socialization and development than those in foster care (Harden 2002).
When children living in residential and foster care were interviewed; the children highlighted their strong preference for family-based care over residential care, with concerns that residential care did not offer them with the same level of individual care and attention. Instead, foster care was widely recognized as a positive placement for children who could not live with their families in the short or longer-term, and which could provide children with care and attention (Everychild 2011).
Benefits for the foster family.
Homeless children are not the only ones who benefit from foster care. The foster family, and especially the foster mother, benefits as well. Foster families are paid a stipend for caring for, and sharing their home with, the child. This is in addition to the child’s medical, educational, clothing, and nutritional needs being met. The stipend assists the family in meeting their own needs allowing better nutrition and education for their own children. Foster mothers are elevated to the status of professional parent; wage earners given worth in society and their families (Paul, 2012) . Training provided to them includes such subjects as child development and nutrition information which not only assist them in parenting their foster child well, but their own children too.
WHY THE CHURCH?
The church is called to respond to the needs of vulnerable children. Churches are uniquely equipped, organized, viable networks of caring individuals who can respond in meaningful, culturally appropriate ways. The local church is in the best position to minister to the needs of children and families in their own community. They can provide direct spiritual, emotional, and material care with the support of their brothers and sisters around the world.
Throughout scripture God’s people are commanded to care for the orphan. In Isaiah 58:6-12 tells us God desires us to share our food with the hungry and provide the needy with clothing and shelter. The verses have a beautiful promise of blessing for those who fulfill the desires of the Lord in this way; their healing will quickly appear, the glory of the Lord will be their rear guard, the Lord will listen to their cries, and He will guide them and satisfy their needs, blessing the work of their hands. When God’s people obey He is close beside them.
References
Barth, R (2002) Institutions vs. Foster Homes: The Empirical Base for the Second Century of Debate. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC, School of Social Work, Jordan Institute for Families
EveryChild (2011) Scaling Down. Reducing, reshaping and improving residential care around the world. Positive care choices: Working Paper 1 EveryChild, London
Harden, B (2002) Congregate Care for Infants and Toddlers: Shedding New Light on an Old Question. Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol 23 (5)
Nelson, C, Zeanah, C, Fox, N, Marshall, P, Smyke, A, Guthery, D, (2007) Cognitive recovery in socially deprived young children: The Bucharest early intervention project. Science 318 (no.5858); 1937–1940 (21st December 2007)
Paul, M. (2012, May 22). Director Vathsalya Charitable Trust. (R. Moore, Interviewer)
