So many questions about fostering

[Lolly]

DP and I are entertaining the idea of becoming a long term foster carer. We have a DS who is 4 and we feel that he needs a sibling but so far we have not been able to provide one naturally so we are going to pull the pin on that as we feel the age gap is becoming to great for us.

Anyway we are have only been discussing it for a about 24 hours so I haven’t seriously started to investigate yet. But I have a few initial questions that I thought you wonderful people could maybe answer.

We live in NSW and we are thinking that a child about a year younger than our son would suit us. We both work full time and DP is a shift worker so a baby would not suit our lifestyle at this stage. Can you specify an age that you would prefer? We don’t really care about what sex.

We would like to offer a child a loving home and all the opportunities that will be provided to our son. My son has been enrolled in a private school for Kindergarten next year and we think in fairness that the foster child should go to the same school so they don’t feel that they are being treated differently. Does the government assist with the paying of school fees or will this be up to us to fund?

If we were to take a child that is about 3 does the government help with childcare fees?

We like to go overseas for holidays every few years. Are we able to take a foster child away on holidays with us if we are going out of the country?

Does anyone have experience with introducing a foster child to your home if you already have biological children? How did your biological children cope with the change?

I went onto the DOCS site and they said that there are also non government organisations that arrange fostering. In your opinion which one is better support wise? I don’t mean financially.

I am sure I will think of hundreds of other questions but these are the ones at the front of my mind at the moment.

Any advise would be great.

Thanks

Lolly

[lil_chookie]

We live in NSW and we are thinking that a child about a year younger than our son would suit us. We both work full time and DP is a shift worker so a baby would not suit our lifestyle at this stage. Can you specify an age that you would prefer? We don’t really care about what sex.

You can be very specific about the age range.

We would like to offer a child a loving home and all the opportunities that will be provided to our son. My son has been enrolled in a private school for Kindergarten next year and we think in fairness that the foster child should go to the same school so they don’t feel that they are being treated differently. Does the government assist with the paying of school fees or will this be up to us to fund?

Foster carers receive a fortnightly allowance based on the age of the child. It will help to feed, clothe, educate and meet other needs of the child in your care. A number of other payments and reimbursements are also available for certain children and situations. Additional payments can be made if the child or young person has special needs that put extra demands and costs on the carer.

We like to go overseas for holidays every few years. Are we able to take a foster child away on holidays with us if we are going out of the country?

Yes you are able too. You just need to get permission at the time. The foster agency will be able to run through the specifics of this when you speak to them.

Have a look at fosteringnsw.com.au as well