Urgent call for more foster families

Monday 03 April 2017

Jersey's fostering team is hunting for 10 new families by the end of this year, and will shortly be launching a new campaign to prompt people to come forward.

There is currently a pool of 30 families - and now the team is looking to grow it even further.

Publicity Officer Margarida Lourenco-Olivier told Express: "It is ambitious, but we need to keep the numbers at a healthy level so that we can meet every child's need and give the best placement possible. Each child has different needs and difficulties so we need as many various profiles as possible. We try to match cultural backgrounds and recreate what the child is used to do for the best possible outcome."

If a suitable placement cannot be found on the Island, they will have to foster outside of Jersey. Nine children were in that situation last year - most of them because they had special needs and required someone with the specific skills to cater for them. 39 other children were fostered locally.

One of Jersey's current 30 foster families received an MBE last year for her fostering work, having looked after 138 children in the last 24 years.

Matching the families with the children is a long process as the social workers go through each file. Six are in the service at the moment, with Ms Lourenco-Olivier having joined them six months ago to help them raise awareness about fostering. 

In January, she set up a campaign leading to 23 enquiries. Of this, nine signed up for the training course that will start this month. 

Ms Lourenco-Olivier explained: "We want to make this a topic of conversation, as not everybody in Jersey might realise we need foster care. We need a continued focus and to maintain the momentum. It is important we have a variety of profiles, and there are no restrictions. They can be single, married, in a relationship, in a same-sex relationship, with or without children. As long as they are committed and willing to be selfless to help a child, we want to hear from people." 

As fostering is a life changing commitment, the team provides a six-week course to all potential carers, in addition to checks and visits at their homes. 

The fostering team is planning more events this year including a Foster Care Fortnight, which will run in line with the UK, between 8 and 20 May.