When Janine and Ian begun foster caring 32 years ago, they didn’t know they were about to embark on a lifelong journey.
“I thought it might be just good to do for five or so years while my kids were young. Our youngest had just turned five as we were doing the training and they started school the week we got our first placement. We never looked back,” Janine said.
Anglicare Victoria, the state’s biggest provider of out-of-home care, in partnership with amazing foster carers like Janine and Ian, are this Foster Care Week calling for Victorian households to consider opening their homes and their hearts to a child in need.
Fostering can take many forms from emergency and respite care, short-term placements, to ongoing care arrangements, and whether you’re married, single, older, younger, with or without kids, or in a same-sex relationship, working full time, renting or owning – everyone can make a positive difference in a child’s life.
“My values have always been that people and relationships are more important than anything else so when I started foster caring I just felt like that was an extension of how I felt about our children and family relationships,” Janine said.
“It is an exciting phone call to receive, ‘can you take this child’, who is often at a point in their lives where they need a family like ours.”
Last year, Anglicare Victoria oversaw foster care for nearly 800 children and young people and is proud to support about 1000 carers across the state annually.
While foster carers provide the day-to-day care of children, they form part of a care team that makes joint decisions regarding the care of the child, with Anglicare Victoria there to support carers every step of the way.
Over the years, Anglicare Victoria Eastern region foster carers Janine and Ian have given children in need a safe place in short-term and emergency placements, some for days and weeks, some for months. The goal of foster care is always reunification with a child’s biological parents but, when that’s not possible, a child is placed on a permanent care order.
Ian said he’d encourage anyone who wanted to make an impact to look into foster care, even if only for a short time.
“The support from Anglicare Victoria is astounding. They’re not going to push you into it and there’s never a sense that you’re left to your own devices. It’s definitely that you’re working as part of a team,” Ian said.
“Even if they only stay for a month or two and at that point they may go back home or they may move on to another carer, the time they’re with you can really make a difference for that child.
“It’s something that if you feel like you want to give back to the community and make a contribution to people’s lives, and if you want children in your life, there’s no shortage of kids out there who need a loving home.”
Can you provide a safe place for a child in need? Anglicare Victoria runs regular information sessions about all things to do with foster caring. Visit our website to find out when the next one is running near you.
