For many, sitting down to dinner, playing games, and going off to sport practice, is what “family time” is all about. But for thousands of young people across the country, it’s a very different reality.
October 15 to 21 marks National Foster week and there is a rising need for foster families in the Kawartha-Haliburton region.
“We have families who are struggling with addictions issues and mental health, we have some families who there is domestic violence,” said Wendy Gordon, resource supervisor, Kawartha-Halliburton children’s aid.
This is where Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid in Peterborough steps in.
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“When a child in our community can no longer reside in their family home for a variety of reasons, we try to place them in our own internal foster care which means they’re living with a family who is not biologically related to them,” said Gordon.
According to statistics Canada 2016 data:
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- 43,880 children were in foster care in Canada
- 9,425 children were in foster care in Ontario
According to the Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society 2016/2017 report
- 231 children are in the care of Kawartha-Haliburton services
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“Right now we have approximately 100 homes, we have 93 children placed within our internal system and we have 44 children who are placed outside foster care… we really believe children do better in their communities.”
Children can go into foster care for a weekend, for a month or for years. It’s these loving homes that are desperately needed in the Kawartha-Haliburton region.
To become a foster parent, you must fill out an application, pass a criminal record check, get a medical examination, have an in-home visit, and complete mandatory training. Applications are required to participate in a 27-hour training course called PRIDE; parent, resource, development and education. The course is comprised of nine sessions, each session is three hours long.
“The PRIDE curriculum is really a good overview of everything that they are probably going to at least initially encounter, so it gives an opportunity to have an understanding of what is children’s aid, the needs that the children’s aid addresses and then where they fit in that overall team,” said foster parent and PRIDE trainer, James Yuells.
Once a foster family is fully approved, a child is placed with them. Both the family and the child are assigned their own resource worker, who offers ongoing support.
“The face of fostering is multi-faceted. We have people who call and they foster one child and we have people who have been fostering with us for 30 and 40 years.”
The need for foster families across the province continues to grow. The Kawartha-Haliburton shares that need particularly for teenagers.
Visit their website at khcas.on.ca. or call them at 1-800-661-2843.
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