| Surviving with $18,000 per month might be near impossible for some people. It is, however, all that foster parents are offered by the Ministry of Social Protection to participate in its Foster Care programme.Foster Care Manager, Ms. Colleen KhanThis is according to Manager of the Foster Care Department, Ms. Colleen Khan. The Foster Care Department is part of the Childcare and Protection Agency, located at Broad and Charles Streets, Georgetown,Wholesale NFL Jerseys,.Khan has managed the programme for the past five years and has found that many of the people who volunteer to foster a child, “they are in it because they want to help.”Nevertheless,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, Khan revealed during an interview with this publication that all individuals opting to be a part of the programme are required to undergo a thorough mandatory screening process. Part of the requirement for being a foster parent is that an individual must be earning an income. This, of course, is in light of the fact that the sum offered to help foster a child is meagre.As such, Khan noted that if an unemployed individual approaches the Foster Care Department to foster a child “that will immediately be a red flag for us.”“We will definitely want to know what therefore your motivation is. Eighteen thousand dollars is just an assistance… How will you be able to maintain yourself and your household without turning it into a business?” Khan asked.However, she disclosed that an individual’s marital status or gender will not be a deterrent to fostering a child. Nevertheless, the majority of the volunteers over the years have been women. But Khan spoke of a lone male who had opted to be a part of the programme, but did so with immense support from the women in his family.“You don’t have to be a (biological or adoptive) parent to foster a child,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys,” said Khan, as she disclosed that once found suitable an individual is not dissuaded from fostering multiple children. “In some cases some persons would foster two or three children at one time, who are of no relation,Cheap Jerseys From China, or sometimes are siblings.”But the foster care programme does not only focus on potential foster parents, but the ability of children to adapt to these new care-givers is also taken into consideration. According to Khan, while young children housed at residential homes may readily gravitate to a caring person, for some of the older ones it warrants a bonding process.The bonding process is done at the Childcare and Protection Agency under the watchful eyes of designated officers.At the end of a bonding experience, a child has the free will to refuse to enter into the care of the foster parent. “Once you are a certain age you do have the liberty to express how you feel, in fact we find it much more useful when a child has a say in what his or her care plan is,” said Khan, of potential foster children.In fact,Cheap Jerseys Supply, she disclosed that having the approval of children could help to ensure that the process is successful. For this reason the bonding process could go on for days, or both potential foster parent and child could opt to have a trial run of the foster care experience for a weekend before a final decision is made.“We need to put these systems in place because a failed foster arrangement is much more detrimental to the child than leaving him or her in a home,Supply Authentic NFL Jerseys,” Khan asserted.Foster care can commence from early as birth and continue until a child turns 18. However, the Ministry has been known to continue its support in some instances for youths who are pursuing educational programmes while in foster care.“We wouldn’t yank them off because they are 18 (years old) and we will still financially support the foster parent,” related Khan.But the Department does not simply turn its back on children when they are sent to the homes of their foster parents.According to Khan, officers are tasked with monitoring the children in foster care by conducting home and school visits each month to ensure that they remain in a safe and secure environment.Currently there are currently 108 registered foster parents caring for 166 children. But Khan underscored that there is still need for more persons to come on board,Cheap NFL Jerseys, since there are still more than 600 children in residential care. |
