what happens to a child who is in foster care and ends up needing to spend lots of time in the hospital?

[WaxelO]

just looking for advice please without going into too much detail.

if a foster child is in a placement and develops cancer for example, what would happen if that family just couldnt be at the hospital 24/7?

I've had a foster child who was in hospital. It was expected that I stayed with them and made other arrangements for my family at home.

Surely the most sensible and best for the child is to actually ask the child?

Thing is, if your own child had cancer you couldn't just not go to hospital?!?

It is the same with a foster child - even worse if no one is going to be there to give him comfort or he has to have a new carer

You could ask your support network to help with staying at hospital or some foster careers local to you. You will need some time at home and to spend with other family members.

quitelikely5 Yes, absolutely I agree that as a birth parent I would be by my own birth child's bedside all the way. But then my birth children would want me there. We have an unbreakable bond.

I don't think it is the same for a fostered child. They may wish to have their own birth family at their bedside (and not their foster carer) but that may not be possible, the child may have no attachment to the foster carers. The foster carer may mean well but do more harm than good if the child is not attached to them.

I really think the child needs to be asked what they want. You cannot assume there are not other members of the foster child's family that could help.

Surely the fostered child has a voice?

We have a duty of care to ensure the child is on so we would be obliged to visit the child and as for birth family that would depend on circumstances