How to Combine Work and Foster Caring
There remains a challenge within the fostering industry of how to attract more foster carers for the growing number of children in need of fostering, while reconciling the fact that these carers need to be flexible with their working hours or commit to giving up work altogether.
Yet it is difficult to ask someone to give up full time employment to be committed to the demands of foster parent, and not have a guaranteed income, especially in an uncertain economic environment.
How then can we overcome this drawback to becoming a carer? Surely the government has some responsibility in creating a work environment which is more conducive to fostering.
Flexibility at work is an issue which comes up often in the areas of employment involving women and maternity.
Working parents with children find difficulty accessing child care which is costly.
The working from home vs. productivity at work debate.
While pushing for more national policies for flexibility in working conditions for those involved in fostering, dedicated foster carers and agencies have to get creative themselves to design an environment foster carers are comfortable with.
Can a minimum foster care allowance be paid to foster carers who are available but without a placement?
Independent Fostering Agencies may feel the need to offer a partial fostering allowances in order to keep a carer on the books of the agency. However, the amount of the allowance and for how long, can create conflict as well as costs to the agency if they are to pay foster carers essentially for keeping empty beds.
Should foster carers be encouraged to work part time?
One might also suggest foster carers find flexible work which allows them a lot of free time to foster children. This can be complicated when deciding how many hours per week are reasonable to work, and when these hours of work are most convenient. Weather, a few hours every day is better than limiting work to a few days per week, and having entire days free per week.
The type of employment that allows for flexibility and limited hours may sometimes be low paid jobs for which the foster carer may be over qualified. This is often a problem for women trying to balance caring for children while getting back to the job market, when trying to obtain a similar part time position to the full time position they had before going on maternity leave.
There is no simple solution, as the decision to work part time or give up work altogether is greatly dependent on the circumstance of the individual. Fostering a child requires dedication and commitment but the rewards are worth the challenges of fexibility it requires.
Yet it is difficult to ask someone to give up full time employment to be committed to the demands of foster parent, and not have a guaranteed income, especially in an uncertain economic environment.
How then can we overcome this drawback to becoming a carer? Surely the government has some responsibility in creating a work environment which is more conducive to fostering.
Flexibility at work is an issue which comes up often in the areas of employment involving women and maternity.
Working parents with children find difficulty accessing child care which is costly.
The working from home vs. productivity at work debate.
While pushing for more national policies for flexibility in working conditions for those involved in fostering, dedicated foster carers and agencies have to get creative themselves to design an environment foster carers are comfortable with.
Can a minimum foster care allowance be paid to foster carers who are available but without a placement?
Independent Fostering Agencies may feel the need to offer a partial fostering allowances in order to keep a carer on the books of the agency. However, the amount of the allowance and for how long, can create conflict as well as costs to the agency if they are to pay foster carers essentially for keeping empty beds.
Should foster carers be encouraged to work part time?
One might also suggest foster carers find flexible work which allows them a lot of free time to foster children. This can be complicated when deciding how many hours per week are reasonable to work, and when these hours of work are most convenient. Weather, a few hours every day is better than limiting work to a few days per week, and having entire days free per week.
The type of employment that allows for flexibility and limited hours may sometimes be low paid jobs for which the foster carer may be over qualified. This is often a problem for women trying to balance caring for children while getting back to the job market, when trying to obtain a similar part time position to the full time position they had before going on maternity leave.
There is no simple solution, as the decision to work part time or give up work altogether is greatly dependent on the circumstance of the individual. Fostering a child requires dedication and commitment but the rewards are worth the challenges of fexibility it requires.
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