Foster families are recognized in October by the provincial government, and local parents and social workers want others to know it is a worthwhile experience.
It is a role that many people would never consider, yet a local foster parent is convinced more people should try it.
"It's very, very rewarding," Allyson Pearson said. "Not that every day is tickety-boo," she quickly added.
"Timing is everything, and we need all kinds of families," said Bernardine Lee, resources social worker for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. She added, "Certain kids with certain personalities have to match the home and what life stage that family is at. We need singles and doubles and blended and ethnic."
Lee addressed some of the myths about fostering that might deter people who have thought about it but worry they are not the right type of people. She said some children have higher levels of need and require a stay-at-home parent 24/7, but there are many others who go to school full-time and can handle living with foster parents who both work out of the home.
"We have the expectation that they will do what is needed, as with any child," Lee said in reference to doctor and counselling appointments. But not all children need a parent at their side all day.
There are adults who provide respite care over weekends and do not foster full time. Some take only teens while others like Allyson Pearson and her husband Ron Paradis, who used to take teens, now foster only infants and children up to 11.
"I've done the teen thing," Pearson said laughing. "We've done it all," she said about the more than 30 children who have shared their home while in temporary care.
Lee said a foster parent or family has to be willing to "commit to caring for these kids but with a team" and that communication to co-ordinate schedules is paramount. The team includes two social workers, the birth family to varying degrees and possibly a doctor or therapist or the courts.
Pearson and her husband, who have a daughter still living at home, have cared for foster children for more than 20 years.
"In your heart it's always hard to say goodbye. You know in your mind this is temporary, but oh, your heart," Pearson reflected.
Pearson said she loves tucking the children in at night and seeing them fall asleep. It is when they can fall asleep that she knows her efforts are working. She said: "I have a little girl right now and I used to tell her, 'Guess what? I love you bunches and bunches' and now I can say, 'Guess what?' and she'll say, 'I know. You love me bunches and bunches' and then just like that she falls asleep."
Lee said on a number of occasions community members have remarked that they knew children who were taken into custody that they would have liked to step in and care for but thought knowing the family would rule them out.
"Let us judge conflict of interest," Lee urged. "Phone us and ask."
Tom Christensen, Minister for Children and Family Development, said: "The ongoing challenge is to minimize the number of moves [a child goes through]. The greater the pool of foster families we have, the less we're going to have to move kids or add more to one family."
Christensen said a new program called Agreement with Young Adults (AWYA) began July 1 to address transitioning 19 year olds from full-time care to independent adulthood.
Until recently, once a foster child turned 19, he or she was cut off government support unless continuing with post-secondary education. AWYA aids youth until the age of 24 who might still be completing high school or who need help with counselling and addiction issues. Pearson's foster daughter, who has been with them since she was four, is transitioning to Community Living because of her developmental disability.
