AN appeal has gone out to potential foster parents in Cork. The popular perception is that only babies are fostered but that is not the case.
The Southern Health Board, has a Fostering Resource Unit at St Finbarr's Hospital in Cork. It provides a service vital not only to infants, but to teenagers as well.
Fostering used to be pretty much an adlib affair. If you appeared interested and seemed suitable, not too many obstacles were put in your way.
There was little or no training for those who were about to become adoptive parents.
Nowadays, there is a well planned training scheme for fosterers.
There is also a back up service to help both the foster parents and foster children if difficulties arise.
According to Mr Jim O'Sullivan, the senior social worker attached to the unit, foster parents come forward for a number of reasons.
There are people who have come by good fortune in their own lives and wish to give something back; there are those who simply enjoy the idea of giving a home to a person in need, for whatever reason; and there are those whose earlier years may not have given them the easiest passage but who have come through and now want to help others. Very often, he says, people from this latter category make exemplary foster parents.
At present, there is a pool of 217 foster carers available in Cork. However, all of these people are not always able to be on call. Thus, the appeal for new foster parents.
According to Mr O'Sullivan, since the inception of the Fostering Resource Unit in 1994, the target group has been extended to all teenagers, whether emergency cases or otherwise - "which has led to significantly more placements with the foster carers available".
"Preparation training for prospective foster carers includes: selfawareness; understanding the nature of adolescence; and behavioural management," he says.
There is a group preparation scheme for carers, based on a tried and trusted package developed in the UK, involving eight sessions.
This includes courses on attachment and bonding; being in care; loss and change; adolescence; and living together in families.
There are also open nights, advice on planning for placement as well as evaluation sessions.
The training pack is designed to enable two or more leaders to run courses for prospective foster parents, Mr O'Sullivan added. The leaders are usually social workers or fosterers.
The placement of a young person with a family is based on a contract agreement. Those involved in drawing up the contract are the young person or its guardian, in the case of an infant; his or her family, in the case of a teenager; the new foster parent; previous ones, if any, and the social services.
There are various reasons why children may he placed in care. Infants might have to be fostered because the mother is having another baby, a teenager going through difficulties might he better off away from home for some time.
Parents might not be able adequately to care for their children. Sexual, physical or emotional abuse, could he a factor.
As well as the fostering programme, Mr O'Sullivan is also involved in the Mayfield Neighbourhood Youth Project in Cork, now celebrating its 20th year in operation.