Positives & Negatives of Fostering

by Maria
(Winnipeg, MB)

As a foster mom, I would say that it is as positive as possible for the children in our care.

It is obviously traumatic to be in foster care to start with, but we treated all the children with respect and when possible, love. (Not all children we loved, it is just the nature of the beast. Anyone who says they love all children, well they may be confusing pity with love).

But I cared for each child, and often worked closely with their parents, the social workers, and professionals in the community.

What we found was negative experiences for us was the stigma of who foster parents are, the idea that all foster parents are bad, caused many problems and at times, mistreatment from social workers.

I also fought hard to get children who were in my care, the community services they needed, which at times was quite draining and an uphill battle.

But we chose to do it, and made sure we could make it as good as we could for each child. Alas, like many foster parents, those of us who do it sometimes end up burned out a bit, and have to take a break.