Call for foster care

By Jade Lawton
PAKENHAM Upper foster carer, Jenny, has opened her home and heart to 20 foster children over 13 years.
Jenny, a strong believer in the old adage that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ said foster caring was very rewarding and in fact the most rewarding thing she had ever done.
And she is not alone, with inquiries about becoming a foster carer increasing fivefold since the release of the Ombudsman’s Investigation into Out of Home Care.
“I used to work as legal aid lawyer and I saw a lot of children who couldn’t live with their parents because of drug addiction, people going to jail, or people being ill,” she said.
Jenny’s partner was not so keen on the idea. Just months after her divorce, she signed up with OzChild, the foster care agency that covers Melbourne’s south-east.
She has three children and three teenage boys in her long-term care.
“One came to me at 22 months, one at four and one at 12-years-old,” she said.
The boys are now in their mid-teens.
“It can be tricky sometimes, but they are good kids, and they deserve a chance,” she said.
“If not in foster care they would be in residential units, institutions.”
The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, which operates a foster care hotline, has received about 20 phone calls a day since the release of the damning Ombudsman’s report.
However, there is still a shortage of about 1000 carers across the state.
Jenny said her three biological children had been taught compassion through sharing their home and family with foster children.
“Two of them are now registered foster carers and the other is doing a diploma in youth work. They realise how lucky they are and how big the need is,” she said.
“It’s an obligation of all of us to look after the children in our community. Often, if a child is hurt in the papers, people ask why someone didn’t do something. It’s actually us that need to do something. It really does take a village to raise a child.”
To inquire about Foster Care, call the hotline on 1800 013 088 or visit www.fosterabrighterfuture.com.au