We all have different personalities and ideologies, so the definition of what constitutes a rewarding experience will differ from person to person. Similarly, fostering can be a truly rewarding experience in more ways than one if you have the right mentality to become a foster care provider. Just go through the following and see if any of what is being discussed here sounds like a rewarding experience to you.
Providing Shelter to Traumatised Children
Any child who is in the foster care system is there because something bad happened to either them or those around them. To provide more context, consider some of the leading reasons why children are looked after by the Local Authority.
- Death of one or both parents.
- Debilitation of one or both parents.
- Abandonment by biological parents.
- Imprisonment of one or both parents.
- Neglectful behaviour by parents/guardians in matters related to emotional needs of a young child.
- Neglecting the basic needs of a child, such as providing food, clean water, and healthy living conditions.
- Neglecting a child’s urgent medical needs due to reasons related to religion, ideologies, ignorance, and/or finance.
- Physical abuse by parents, guardians, or family members.
- Emotional abuse by parents, guardians, or family members.
- Sexual abuse by parents, guardians, or family members.
- Hostility in the household (domestic abuse, violent actions), even when not directed towards the child.
Every time you look after a child as a registered foster carer, you are helping a child who has gone through one or more of the above circumstances. You are letting them get away from all that they have faced until then. If you find that to be a rewarding experience, visit fcascotland.co.uk to know more about what it means to be a foster carer and what kind of allowance you can expect to receive.
Providing a Place for Children to Heal
The primary job of a foster carer is to provide the children in care with a safe place where they will receive the care that they should have never had to ask for in the first place. You will be providing them with not just a place to stay, but an actual home where they can take some time to just be children.
Psychological wounds can scar a child’s mind for life, but children can also heal quickly if they have a chance do to do so. You will be one of the many foster care providers to give them that opportunity to heal and be happy again.
Improving an Adult’s Chances to Succeed in Future
A troubled childhood and a harmful home environment are two of the biggest reasons responsible for teens making bad decisions early on in their life. Drug addictions, alcoholism, and criminal activities in young adults can often be traced back to childhood abuse of one kind or another. That is why the foster care system exists. It aims to take vulnerable children away from harmful environments, so that they can be influenced by good role models and see that there are people out there that are there to help.
As a foster care provider, you will take on the role of being that good influence in their lives. You will get several chances to impress upon and shape the life of multiple children throughout your time as a foster carer. Every time you succeed in making a positive impression on a child’s mind, you are improving their chances of succeeding in life as an adult down the line.
If you are meant to become a foster carer for children, then you have probably found more than just one reason already to deem the work rewarding. Given that you have taken the initiative to at least do some research on the topic, it might already be a sign that you will enjoy your time as a foster carer.