All parents are superheroes. But foster parents have something extra special. They care for, support and love children when they need it most, providing safety, compassion and a home for children and young people from different backgrounds, with different needs. By doing this they change not just the life of the child, but often the lives of the biological family. Is there any more important job?
But as all parents know, to be a great superhero, you need some superpowers. Here’s a look at some of the powers that you need to be a great foster carer.
Resilience
The process of fostering can take time. You might start with learning how to become a foster parent with help from your agency, Fostering People, before applying and making changes to your home and your lifestyle. You need to be resilient to even get to the point of welcoming your first foster placement. From there, you’ll need this resilience more than ever as you face the challenges that can come with looking after new children, who are often totally different from the child before them.
Time Management
All parents need to be good at managing their time. Between school runs, work, clubs and classes, homework, appointments and playdates, life can feel like one big juggling act. Add the other appointments that can come with life as a foster carer, and your time management skills become more important than ever.
Language
To be a great foster parent, you need to be able to speak multiple languages and communicate with different people. Sometimes, you’ll need to speak toddler, developing ways to communicate with very young children. You’ll need to speak teen, to get through to surely teenagers who don’t want anything to do with you. But you’ll also need to speak professionally, to communicate well with the other adults involved in your journey.
Adaptability
As well as your language, you’ll also need to adapt your behaviours, your home, and your lifestyle to welcome children of different ages and with different needs into your home. All children are different. As biological parents, you get years to get to know yours, and the changes happen slowly over time, giving you all a chance to adjust. When you welcome a new foster child, you need to adapt quickly to create a loving home for them.
Healing
Parents need to be able to heal physical wounds, but also emotional problems, making a child feel safe, loved, healthy and happy at all times.
Lie Detection
Children aren’t always completely honest with us, or themselves. Often, they lie, not to be naughty, but because they want to protect themselves, us, or someone that they love, or because they are ashamed of the truth. Being able to pick out lies or having a sense for misinformation can make you a great foster parent.
There are plenty of people who would tell you that these aren’t superpowers. But any parents know that they are the powers that they rely on every day, which make them fantastic parents, to both biological, and foster children.
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