FOSTERING a child can change their life.
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But according to Ballarat’s Berry Street intake and assessment practitioner Suzanne Pickard it can also change the lives of the family who take them in.
After being a social worker for more than years and spending the better part of last decade working in foster care, Ms Pickard officially began fostering adolescent children at her own home at the beginning of the year because there are not enough carers to take them in.
Ms Pickard said while there is was an urgent need for foster families for children of all ages, there was increasing demand for housing for adolescents.
“People tend to take in babies and younger children before adolescents,” Ms Pickard said.
“This means a lot of adolescents end up in residential housing. Children of all ages need to be in families. If they can’t be at home with their own family and we can find a home for them in the community who will include them then that’s the best thing for children and adolescents too.”
Many children come from troubled pasts and some arrive with only the clothes on their back.
“Just coming into foster care and the experience of being removed from your family is traumatic,” Ms Pickard said. “They don’t understand why, often they think it is their fault. A lot of the children have seen family violence, they’ve seen drug and alcohol use. Many blame themselves for what is happening in their families.”
Ms Pickard said the organisation was not only in need of foster families but carers who could provide respite or safe housing for children for a short periods.
Ms Pickard said the satisfaction she gets from being a foster mum is unparalleled.
“They’re not your child but you love them,” Ms Pickard said. “We show them love by our actions. We give them a bed, a roof over their head, a safe place and the things they need. What we are doing is trying to support the child and their family. Who for whatever reason cannot look after their child.”
Ballarat’s Berry Street is offering training sessions for families interested in foster children on August 1,8 and 15 from 9.30am until 4pm at 23 Wetlands Drive, Mount Helen. Details, call 5330 5000
