08 Dec 2014

The Tutume-based social welfare officer, Mr Kuda Balule says foster parenting needs special skills.

Speaking in an interview on the sideline of a workshop organised by Social and Community Development (S&CD) department of the Tutume sub-district council aimed at equipping future foster parents , Mr Balule said they were also providing background information as well as explaining foster parenting processes.

Mr Balule said the objectives of foster care were to offer emergency services to children in danger, provide care to children in need, provide children with basic needs in a family-like environment and to protect, support and enhance lives of children in challenging circumstances.

He said caring for a foster child was a different experience than caring for one’s own child, so training was essential for all future foster parents.

Furthermore, he said social workers observed the foster parent’s attitude, motivations, knowledge, reasons for wanting to foster, perceptions of social problems and psychological issues with special reference to children in need of care.

He said they also focus on child development and how the two would communicate and interact.

Mr Balule said that before training they screen and make an assessment, which incorporates references, medical certificate, criminal conduct, age stipulation, proof of socio-economic security and social inquiry report.

He said this was done as per the Children in Need of Care Regulations (2005), with the child’s interest always at the centre of any decision.

In addition, he noted that the screening was done by conducting at least two home visits, one of them being a scheduled visit while the other a surprise visit.

He said the final assessment was conducted based on the observations and performance during training and a report written for each foster parent candidate, recommending whether she or he should be included into the foster parent bank.

All successful candidates are then included into a database and whenever a child need placement, they tap into this pool and immediately place a child, he said.

He added that the child would be placed by a court order with a particular foster parent after looking at all presented reports from the Social and Community Development department.

Mr Balule said that wherever possible, depending on the age and life situation of the child, a transition period may be arranged to place a child in foster care for a certain period of time.

Mr Balule explained that the programme was open to all interested couples or individuals.

He said that many people were not aware of the concept of foster care and as such they were currently making the public aware through radios, newspapers and Kgotla meetings. .Mr Balule encouraged people to come forward and enroll to be foster parents as this was done to protect children’s rights.

The social welfare officer said the whole community should also take part in fostering children, quoting a Setswana proverb which says “go tsaya motse go godisa ngwana“, which means that it takes a whole village to raise a child. ENDS