Finding time for a career as a single parent can be extremely difficult, especially as it seems impossible to find the time. However, there is a career path that provides both an unmatched satisfaction, income and pure flexibility. Foster caring is something that is rarely ever considered and many are unaware it can become a career, providing you with the opportunity to truly work during your own hours and help change people’s lives. Here we’ve listed five benefits of becoming a foster carer.
A Genuine Career
Time is truly something that is hard to find as a single parent and with little to no time to earn an income, fostering a child can help you earn a living and develop a career at the same time. Once you foster a child you’re provided with the same benefits as you would with a job from a business, as you are provided with a whole host of guidance and support. If you are truly unsure on fostering a child, a private fostering agency can talk you through the whole process.
Financial Benefits
Once you take a look into a career you are also able to reap the benefits financially. There are several things which are taken into consideration, including past experience, current housing and much more, but once the tests have taken place you are able to get a foster carer allowance as well as a wage.
Life Changing Situations
If you truly consider the benefits of becoming a foster carer we can see that the most beneficial reason of all is the fact that you’re able to change the lives of young people and children. A lot of children that arrive in foster agencies, often come from difficult situations, which range from neglect and abuse to abandonment. As a foster carer you are giving them the opportunity to build a foundation for a new life and a new opportunity to grow and flourish. With a lot of children arriving at a delicate and vulnerable age, foster carers can help them grow and forget about their past, opening up an insight into a new, brighter future.
Building Trust & Stability
Not only are you able to change the lives of children and young people, but you also quickly become a person they can confide in. Foster children can find it difficult to trust anyone, especially with a negative past. However, once you provide them with a stability they can quickly realise that you are only there to help them grow and live normal lives. Children at that age need to be in a stable environment, rather than something that is constantly changing, which can be hugely problem for them. There have been many cases where children have kept in touch with their foster carers, seeing them as family rather than just a foster parent.
Academic Benefit
Whether or not children pursue education in the later stages of their teens, it can hugely beneficial for them to have a consistent school life. Children can find it hugely difficult to find consistently or concentration at school, especially when their home is no longer a safe, or enjoyable environment. Once foster parents become involved you are offering a new opportunity for them to become educated and also arrive home to a loving, caring and stable home. We all know how important education is and as a foster parent you’ll see the real benefits of putting them through a school program.
With so much demand for foster parents, government services are struggling to keep up with the rising intake of children and young adults. Recently, fostering in Liverpool hit the headlines due to the dramatic spike the city had, with plea’s going out across the region for people to consider taking on a child. With campaigns being launched across the country as a matter of importance, it has never been as vital for people to step forward it they feel like they could. Hopefully by vocalising the benefits – many of which people don’t know about – we can revert this unfortunate news.