Mancinwales7

I think they prefer you to be at home.........however that is in Britain so maybe it is different in Oz xx

Mancinwales7

Thanx for the info, much appreciated x

korniotis

Some agencies let you work and others require a carer to be available full time

Smartinis

Hi does this vary a lot, because I know a friend of mine enquired recently in VIC and she said she was told that they reimbursed (which I understood meant that she had to cover food/heating etc) only $250 per fortnight per child although this would increase according to the childs needs or age. Nothing was mentioned about actually being paid anything!!

kooga

You mean the child gets the 400 a week. People foster because they are concerned over the well being of the child. It is not a paid "job" not here in the UK anyway.And rightly so!

Smartinis

Thats what I thought, I know my friend won't expect to get paid, but she was concerned that she wouldn't be able to support the child on only $125 pw if this included clothes, food school bills etc.

korniotis

Foster Carers in QLD receive fostering allowances to cover the cost of caring for children. There is no recognition within the allowances of 'renumeration' for foster carers. Some other Australian States do allow for some 'renumeration' in the allowances or fees paid. In other countries foster carers can receive a combination of allowances and 'salary'. Foster carers are motivated to make a difference in children's lives, foster carers provide care 24/7 and more often than not go well beyond the call of duty in addition to the usual expectations to attend meetings, training, school events, work with birth parents, manage crisis, work with professionals etc. If it wasn't for foster carers the child care system would collapse. If anyone deserves financial recognition foster carers do!! Social Workers, care workers, nurses, doctors, residential child care workers etc all receive a salary for the care they give to others.....this could all well be why there is such a worldwide desperate shortage of foster carers! Just a thought!

mikewest

To the op. Do you foster at the moment or have you done in the past? You almost never get a child in foster care that doesn't have problems. They need a huge amount of work and can impact negatively on your own children. It takes huge commitment and I don't know what level of salary you would need to be paid to do it "professionally" or if that would actually be possible. You can only do it out of genuine caring for the individual child and any expenses reimbursed are a bonus and make things easier. I know nothing of the Australian process with fostering but have some recent experience of how the Irish system operates and constant the need for fosterers. Long term fostering is easier as you get to know the child but emergency fostering is real tough on everyone.

I really hope you can carry through your hopes and make a difference to some child.

Mancinwales7

Hiya, thanks for your input and in reply to your question - no we have never fostered before! We were going to adopt at first but felt like we wanted to help more than one child (as we already have 3 of our own kids we could possibly only adopt ONE due to the space we would have in the home)! I work as a support worker for kids with emotional/behavioural difficulties so I know how tough it can be looking after a child that has these issues (I was also a youth worker for over 10 yrs). We would be looking to long term foster so that we could get to know the child a little before they go away to be adopted (and i think that is important for our own children too). By the time we move to Oz and are able to foster, our kids will quite possibly be aged 10, 13 and 18 (hopefully the 18yr old will move out LOL)!!!

I know it will be tough on us all but this is something we have ALWAYS wanted to do - just to give a child a good grounding in life and help them to develop personally and socially would be a great acheivement for us and to show them that family life is fun and filled with love.........

Thanks once again for the input EVERYONE, it is much appreciated.
Kerrie x

korniotis

.......and if you do it you really will make a difference to the lives of the children you care for. Fostering is rewarding and challenging!!

Kapri

Yes, some fostered children can have problems and it's worth being aware of this. It's the reason I want to wait until my own children are older.

Kapri

I thought that was the case in the U.K.

I guess it would be ideal to have someone at home, but in reality not many people are at home all the time. I'm sure they would have more foster carers if they allowed working mums to foster.

Mancinwales7

How old are your children Kapri?

jayne3411

hi everyone

If you only receive $140 a week this is no where near enough to look after foster children and the government are seriously out of touch if they think it covers the costs

Thydney

Friend of mine just Fostered a Muslim kid, 4 cans right at the back of his head