If you already have kids and you are considering fostering, you may have concerns. It is natural to worry about whether all the kids will get on or whether there will be any jealousy. You might wonder how you will manage to split your time and attention fairly. However, there are also a lot of positive impacts fostering will have on the whole family. Here are 5 of the best.
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Unity
Fostering could help to unite your family as you will enjoy the shared experience of opening your homes and hearts to someone new. There will be a lot to talk about, especially before a foster child arrives in your care and directly after they have gone. The shared experience will strengthen the family bond between you because you have all had a large part to play in the process. Fostering could be the perfect way of reuniting and even learning new things about your existing family members.
Sharing
It may be difficult for your kids to learn to share you once you have started fostering. However, there is plenty of support available to help you to overcome those teething problems.
In the long-term fostering can help to teach your kids how to share with others. Toys may become a free-for-all and so will your attention. However, learning to share is an important life lesson. Don’t forget, that as well as having to lose some of your time, they will also get time and attention from their foster siblings, an enriching experience that can help to enhance their lives.
Compassion
Helping someone who is not as fortunate as yourself will help you to learn compassion, as it will encourage the family to see how fortunate they are. Kids often take their own home lives for granted and can feel hard-done-by when in reality, they don’t know how lucky they are. Once this lesson has been learned they can learn to be more compassionate.
Friendship
Friendship is an important part of childhood, and it can be a fantastic experience for a child to have a similar-aged sibling to share experiences with. This works especially well for only children or children that have large age gaps as they often feel quite alone in an adult world. Having a friend, ally, and partner in crime can help a child to form bonds and teach them how to make friends.
Loss
Part of the foster process is loss. This is not necessarily a negative thing as hopefully foster children will be able to be reunited with their own families and have their own happy endings. This can be difficult for the foster family as they can feel they have been left behind. However, learning how to deal with loss is an important life lesson and it is invaluable for a child to learn that this does not have to be a negative emotion.
If you think fostering is for you, there are fostering allowances available to help cushion the financial burden; the link from fcascotland.co.uk outlines what’s available.
Fostering can be an amazingly enriching and life-enhancing experience for every member of a foster family. If you are considering this path, then don’t let your fears hold you back from welcoming a child into your home.
This is a collaborative post
I think this must be a lovely thing to do if you can do it
I agree, my parents used to until we moved
If we had the capacity to do it, I would love to consider fostering. It is a lovely thing to do and for your kids to learn about kindness and compassion. It’s also a way to teach one another how to love, be accepting and to offer love outside your family.
My parents fostered for a while until we moved it is a lovely thing to do if you can do it