Foster Care
What is Foster Care?
“Foster” –verb (used with object), means:
- to promote the growth or development of; further; encourage: to foster new ideas.
- to bring up, raise, or rear, as a foster child.
- to care for or cherish.
As the definition suggests foster care is about caring, cherishing, promoting the development of and raising a child. The legal definition of foster care is: a child is in foster care when placed with someone that is not their parent or guardian, through a court order (Children’s Act, 38 of 2005).
The aim is always to first place the child in foster care with extended family (aunt/uncle, grandparents etc.) and if this is not possible with an unrelated foster family.
The purpose of foster care is to offer a temporary family placement, so that the child can be placed back into their biological family (once whatever issues led to the child’s removal are resolved). If, however, this is not possible, then the court may order the placement with the foster family until 18 years of age.
Why Foster - Arise’s Stance, Christian Response
Arise aims to serve the local church in their response to vulnerable children by motivating Christian families to consider foster care as a way of ministering to a child in need of care.
Every child deserves to be in their own biological family where they can feel loved and cared for, but when this is not possible (due to various circumstances) Arise believes an alternative Christian family is the second best option.
However in reality, most children that are eligible for foster care are placed within child and youth care centres. This happens because there are not enough prospective foster carers who are willing to provide this alternative care.
Foster care presents a Christian family with the opportunity to care for a child from 6months/2years or for an indefinite period depending on the family situation; the possibility of returning the child to their biological family and the needs and best interest of the specific child.
Many families are concerned about how difficult it will be if the child is returned back to their biological parents and for this reason many people are unwilling to consider foster care as an option. Arise’s standpoint is God is in control and one of Jesus’ commandments were to “make disciples” therefore we believe that that God grants us time with the foster children. Even if it is for 1 year that the child stays within the foster family – it is one year of providing love, stability and care for a child. We also believe that by discipling and impacting the child, the child’s whole family can also be positively impacted.
If we as the church do not rise up and care for these children, then we need to accept that other people/organizations/children’s homes will.
See our Foster Care Section for more information.
The legal Process of Foster Care
Foster care is a legal process, requiring screening by a designated social worker and acceptance of this screening by a children’s court. Because foster care is a legal process prospective foster parents need to be aware of the legal processes that govern and outline practices within this field, please see the section on the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005 [link to forms].
Foster care orders are valid for 2 years at a time. During this time family reunification social workers would be working with the biological family to try and facilitate the child’s return into their care.
If this is positive the child would be returned into their care within 2 years. If it is not possible, the foster care order could be extended for a further 2 years and the court would decide whether further reunification efforts would occur with the biological parents. At this point foster parents can decide whether they are able to commit to long-term foster care.
Arise’s Role in Foster Care
Within the realms of foster care, Arise aims to serve the Church in addressing the need of vulnerable children. Arise aims to find foster parents for children who are already placed within child and youth care centres and is therefore networked with these centres that have children requiring foster parents.
Currently Arise focuses on children already placed in child and youth care centres, as opposed to emergency placements. For several reasons:
- There are already many children in child and youth care centres that would benefit from foster care
- Once placed in child or youth care centre, social workers are often overwhelmed with the next emergency case and little time is given to finding foster parents.
- As the child is in a child care centre - allows the child and prospective foster parent to bond and build a relationship over a period of time, which is supervised by the child care centre's staff.
- The prospective foster family has time to adjust to the foster child and the foster child has time to adjust to their new family.
- Concerns, questions and training needs can be addressed before the placement is finalised to ensure a more stable placement.
- In some cases family reunification efforts may have already been attempted and therefore some children would require long-term foster care. However each child’s situation would be different and prospective foster parents would need to consider the willingness and ability to commit to long-term foster care (i.e. until the child is 18 years old).
- For a summary of Arise's working process with prospective foster parents:
