Calling Foster mums help needed with essay questions....

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Hi i am doing some research but need to quote people and do interviews so that it's not all text book. So can you help cat me if that is better.

Q1: SHOULD A CHILD IN LONG TERM FOSTERCARE BE ENCOURAGED TO MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH BIRTH FAMILY??

Q2: WHAT MIGHT THE FUTURE HOLD FOR A YOUNG CHILD WITH DOWNS SYNDROME AND HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY?

Q3: THERE ARE NO INTERVIEWS OR SELECTION PROCEDURES TO BECOME A PARENT BY NATURAL MEANS. WHY SHOULD FOSTER CARERS AND ADOPTERS BE TREATED SO DIFFERENTLY??

Anything would be great and you would just be known as X or Y in my work.

thank you xxxx

My mums a foster mu will get her to log on to help you.

I fostered for 11 years up until a couple of years ago, so might be able to help you out on this, especially the first question as I used to prepare kids for adoption and am still in touch with some of them years later.

Thank you both. You are welcome to cat me if it is easier for you both.

Thanks again.

Q1. It's extremely important for a child to stay in contact with their birth family. No matter what the parents have done to have their children taken away, they still love their children and the children love them and need to see each other. Keeping in touch with their parents will help maintain their identity and heritage.
Q2. Foster carers are offered training specific to their needs, so the future for a fostered child with downs syndrome can be very fulfilling. Not only do we have the training we need, we have the support from the local authority and everyone that's involved in the child's life. We can ring people for help and advice at any time of the day or night. There are care plans and personal education plans put into place at the start of every placement and these are reviewed every six months so that all the care and support is up to date and working well for the LAC.
Q3. In my opinion, it's very important for foster carers to go through very strict assessment to the point of intrusion. I have had my past raked up and have been left in tatters as my SSW left my home. This was all necessary to ensure that I was the right person for the job. If there weren't so many checks, anybody could foster a child and do whatever they wanted with them. There are a lot of people out there that would foster children just to satisfy their perverted needs. That's not the only reason we need assessment. A child has to be matched to the foster carers. What if I hated TV and computer games and I had a child placed with me that loved them? My foster child likes all the things I do, he also loves going out fishing as does my husband. If we hadn't been assessed, the local authority wouldn't have known we were the perfect family for him and he might have ended up with a family who had no shared interests. It is our duty to meet the child's needs. It is our social worker's duty to make sure we are capable of doing that. A LAC has been through enough without being stuck with any Tom Dick or Harry at the end of it all.

Q3

Children being fostered or adopted have (in many cases) already been abused, mentally scarred, mal treated, they deserve a loving home.

Also parents adopting / fostering need to know that the child willnot be easy, may well misbehave, have social problems etc.

If you look at children sent to Australia in the 1960s, they were treated as unpaid labour, not children needing a hoome. As stumpy said, there needs to be checks and follow up.

Q3- Just because you can have children doesn't mean you should. Foster carers need to be properly vetted to ensure that they can provide a caring, safe home and are able to meet the often complex needs of children in the care system. They don't just need to be average parents they need to be able to go above and beyond.

Q1- I think this is open for debate. I actually don't believe that regular contact is always a good thing. In my foster sons sisters case it has created no ends of problems with her refusing to accept that she won't be going home. Some times the birth parents have far too many rights in my opinion.

Bearing in mind this thread is from 2005 I assume the OP has long since completed her essay