FOSTER care month is commemorated in Guyana during the month of November. This month was chosen with the hope that some children in need would find suitable families to care for them, in time for the festive season and New Year. The theme this year is ‘Parenthood is more than DNA: mentor or foster a child in need of care today’. The theme highlights the fact that adults do not have to be biologically attached to a child in order to foster or mentor a child. However they do require these attributes: love, understanding and compassion, some reasonable parenting skills and patience. There are many children who have been separated from their families, through one set of circumstances or another. A foster home offers them a ‘home away from home’ with one-to-one attention from foster parents who understand and care.

The sense of loyalty that vulnerable children feel towards their family members is immense. Even if they come from an abusive, dysfunctional, squalid setting, they would still rather stay with their ‘family’ than be taken into care. This is one reason why foster homes are so important. Being taken to a foster home lessens the trauma that children endure when they are separated from their families. A foster home may seem like a small thing to offer a child from an adult prospective, but to a child it can have a transformative and permanent impact on his/her life: for life.

Foster care is a temporary arrangement, where a vulnerable child is placed with a foster family while the CPA works assiduously to make it possible for the child to return to his/her family. Returning children to their families is always the first priority. Therefore, one of the first things foster parents must realise is that the children who will come into their care will only be with them for a short time.

Foster parents need to have patience and be flexible enough to do their best for their foster child, without becoming too attached to the child or overly concerned or involved in the child’s ‘case’. Sometimes foster parents may have to liaise with CPA officers, visit court sessions and attend meetings. Every case is different, so it is hard to know from the outset how each foster care experience will unfold.

That is why it takes special people to become foster parents: people, who can open their homes and hearts to a child in need, yet work along with others (if need be) to re-unite that child with his/her family. It is indeed a unique person who can form a connection with a child, offering protection, nurturing and love and then release that child in good faith, at the appointed time.

Mentorship is another service that falls under the foster care team at the CPA. Children, who are teenagers and soon will be aging out of the system, need guidance from people who can steer them in the right direction. A mentor is someone who befriends a teenager to teach them skills that will enable them in different aspects of their lives. A mentor can be a man or woman, but must be someone who understands the needs of children, especially adolescents. Mentoring or fostering a teenager can be challenging because of the changes that are occurring in their hormonal and cognitive development.

This along with a background of abuse or neglect means that many teenagers may seem reserved or distrustful towards new people, when in fact they may simply need more time to adjust: a little coaxing and encouragement, some patience and attention. Whether mentoring or fostering, in order to help children in care, adults must be adaptable and accommodating, reliable and genuine in their approach and everything else should eventually fall into place.

To become a foster parent or mentor, apply at the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA). You will also need to have a police clearance, a ‘medical’ and a home assessment. Most importantly, you will need to possess a basic understanding about what fostering/mentoring a child entails, and have a clear and genuine reason why you want to become a foster parent/mentor.

The Foster Care Unit is situated at the CPA, on the corner of Broad and Charles Street, Charlestown. It falls under the Ministry of Social Protection. You can call the Foster Care Unit on 231 8423.

If you are concerned about the welfare of a child call the Childcare and Protection Agency Hotline on 227 0979 or write to us at childcaregy@gmail.com
A Message from the Childcare and Protection Agency, Ministry of Social Protection