The Children’s Authority begins to review and verify the information and documents submitted with the application form. This will be followed by any necessary investigations, which include background checks of the adult members of the household, in-depth interviews and home assessments. Once this stage is completed, the applicant will undergo all necessary training. After this, the Board of Management of the Children’s Authority must give final approval before the applicant can be placed on the Register of approved Foster Care providers.
Foster Parents need to have the desire to love and parent a child, the ability to nurture, have an understanding of children, have patience and flexibility, the ability to provide a safe and stable home, and to provide daily care for children with diverse life experiences and needs.
The duration of the child’s stay will be dependent on the needs of the child, and this will be determined through the assessment process done by the Children’s Authority. However, both short term and long term placement options are available. The intention of Foster Care is to have the child reunited with their family where appropriate, possible or in the best interest of the child or until other suitable long term living arrangements can be made.
At the time of assessing the suitability of a foster parent, discussions will be held with the foster parent on the age and gender of the children they have a preference in fostering. We will try to match the child’s needs with foster parents strengths as best as possible.
Where possible, appropriate and in the best interest of the child, parents/relatives are allowed visitation with their children. This is however conducted on the premises of the Children’s Authority or the Court, and as such the location of the foster home or the names of the foster parents will not be disclosed to the birth parents/relatives.
The Children’s Authority provides ongoing support to all foster parents in the form of monitoring, training, counselling, donations, etc.
