What is the Foster Care Program: A Foster Parent is a special and deeply caring person who has decided to provide care to a child or adolescent whose parent(s) are unwilling or unable to care for them on a temporary basis. Foster Parents attend an extensive training by FRC and need to meet certain standards that have been outlined by the Department of Children and Families.
How to Become a Foster Parent: Being a Foster Parent is perhaps the most difficult and most rewarding of all volunteer positions. It involves hard work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Not only does it involve parenting children who have suffered traumas and losses, it requires working with Family Resource Center, schools, medical facilities, and all necessary resources for the child. Individuals interested in becoming a Foster Parent must attend a 12 week M.A.P.P. (Model Approach to Positive Parenting) course which meets one to two nights a week for a total of 33 hours. The course includes numerous topics including mutual selection, two family consultations visits and the preparation of a family portfolio.
What can a Foster Parent do for Our Children: The Foster Parent’s consistency, dependability, and honesty will have the most positive influence on the foster child’s adjustment to their new situation. Foster homes should provide the child(ren) with a loving and accepting home without trying to replace their birth parent(s); provide a sense of self worth and self-esteem through a normal family life; give them daily care, help and guidance; and provide them with positive values and experiences that they will take with them wherever they go.
