Described as the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ by Keats, Autumn is a great time to consider expanding your family and embracing foster parenting. Autumn is famously known as a time of harvest and heralds the end of the old and the beginning of the new. Through foster care, you can expect to build new bonds, welcoming new experiences, and make a meaningful impact on the world around you. To celebrate the beginning of Autumn, we’ve decided to round up a few reasons to enjoy fostering.
If you’re interested in foster care, please reach out to Orchard Fostering today. We’re available on the phone or via email – you can also fill out a form directly on our contact page.
- Grow Your Family
Becoming a foster parent is a great way to expand your family. Whether you already have children or are eager to experience parenting for the first time, there’s nothing quite like adding to your life in an enriching way by welcoming a new addition into your home. Many foster parents cite this as one of the most meaningful parts of their journey with foster care. Likewise, the other members of your family will benefit from this too particularly if you’re aware of how to support relationships between your foster child and other family members.
- Make a Difference In Your Community And Beyond
Deciding to foster care is a necessary and vital part of local communities as well as the national community in Ireland. Currently, there are not enough foster carers to support the number of children who need a safe home. Children can be placed into foster care for a variety of reasons, some in short-term care and others in long-term foster care. By deciding to open up your home this Autumn for any amount of time, you’ll be contributing to a vital service in the country, in addition to making a huge difference to a child who may have struggled to find a placement otherwise.
- To Reunite Children With Their Birth Families
The goal of foster care is to provide a safe, temporary home for children. Usually, the aim is to reunite them with their birth family if that remains a possibility. Foster care enables this by providing space for the birth parents to address the issues that led to the child’s removal and prepare for reunification. Foster parents play a crucial role in this process by providing a temporary safe harbour and giving foster children another opportunity to have a stable, happy, and healthy family life.
- Embracing Change and New Possibilities
Autumn is a great time for growth, change and reflection. Because fostering a child can be a challenging and rewarding experience, many new skills are acquired and sharpened through fostering. By opening your home and your heart to a child who needs a safe space and navigating the ups and downs of this adventure, you will learn new and unexpected things about yourself as well as form new bonds. Empathy, resilience, improved communication, and creative problem solving are just some of the skills you can learn from becoming a foster parent.
If you’re interested in foster care, please reach out to Orchard Fostering today. We’re available on the phone or via email – you can also fill out a form directly on our contact page.