The Foster Care Team: Fostering Responsibilities
Foster parents or caregivers are a valued member of a care team that works together with the primary goal of helping each child or teen return home to their family.
Each team includes:
- The foster caregiver
- The child
- The child's family and social worker
- The resource social worker
- Other service providers involved with the child's care
Foster caregivers receive ongoing support from their resource social worker and the child or teen's worker – learn about support for families caring for:
Foster Caregiver Responsibilities
Learn more about the responsibilities of foster families:
- Providing the child with a safe place to live, nourishing meals, appropriate clothing and accommodation
- Providing a warm, nurturing environment with guidance and supervision that responds to the child's individual needs and ethnic or cultural heritage
- Participating as a member of a child's care team – developing and implementing a care plan and sharing in regular communication with the child's family and social worker, as well as other professionals
- Meeting regularly with a social worker – telling them about any changes in the home (e.g. plans to move or to have someone else move in)
- Ensuring regular contact between the child, their family and cultural community, whenever appropriate
Be An Advocate
Foster caregivers need to be strong advocates for the children they care for – this means making sure their rights, interests and views are respected and protected.
- Help the child use their own voice to say something, or
- Say something on their behalf
- How much or how often the child can visit their family
- Whether or not to join in cultural or community activities
- Changing living arrangements
- Understand why the decision was made and how it's for their benefit
- Get on board with a decision and support the plan outlined by their worker