A major challenge within the foster care industry is how best to attract more foster carers to support the growing number of children in need of foster care. This needs to be reconciled with the fact that these carers need to be flexible in their working hours, or commit to giving up work altogether. It is difficult to ask someone to give up full time employment and be committed to the demands of fostering, while not having a guaranteed income especially in an uncertain economic environment.
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While pushing for more national policies for flexibility in working conditions for those involved in fostering, dedicated carers and agencies have to get creative themselves to design an environment carers are comfortable within.
Can a minimum foster care allowance be paid to foster carers who are available but without a placement?
Independent Fostering Agencies may feel the need to offer a partial fostering allowance in order to keep a fostering professional on the books of the agency. However, how much of an allowance and for how long, can create conflict, as well as costs to the agency if they are to pay foster carers essentially for keeping ‘empty beds'.
Should foster carers be encouraged to work part time?
It may be suggested that foster carers find flexible work which allows them enough free time to foster children. This can be complicated when deciding how many hours per week are reasonable to work, and when these hours of work should occur. Are a few hours of work every day preferable to limiting work to a few days per week?
The type of employment that allows for flexibility and limited hours may sometimes be low paid jobs for which the foster carer may be over qualified. This is often a problem for women trying to balance caring for children while getting back to the job market, when trying to obtain a similar part time position to the full time position they held before going on maternity leave.
As an independent fostering agency we have found however that our foster carers are able to do a range of occupations as long as they are afforded the flexibility at work by their employers when they need it. Occupations of our foster carers include police officers, psychologists, driving instructors and business owners.
Why does working from home present such a challenge?
Working from home is becoming increasingly common thanks to the technology that allows remote access to files, video conferencing and high speed internet access in a home environment.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/how-to-combine-work-and-foster-caring-6957944.html
About the Author
Find out more about fostering on our website and if you have what it takes to become a foster carer with Pride Fostering Service.
