Being a Foster Parent is an important job, as any that can be named. It can be rich in satisfaction but yet causes many headaches and heartaches.
All children need love and affection, the need to be safe and the need to be respected as a person.
Foster Children have the same needs with a few extras added on.
The need to "belong", you need to show them they have not only in your home but also in your heart.
To be a Foster Parent is not an easy job to make money quick, as lots of people think. It requires more than just being parents to a child. Actually we have to handle three jobs at once:
1. To be the best possible parents to the Foster child.
2. To cooperate with the placing agency and their social workers
3. Maintaining a working relationship with the child's natural parent.
All Foster Parents are specially trained to work with these children who at times have emotional and behavioral problems.
Foster Parents are part of the professional treatment team which helps develop and carry out a Treatment Plan. The Foster Parents help the children in achieving their goals, which are developed in the Treatment plan.
Therapeutic Foster Parents this is a much more difficult task.
The children in Therapeutic foster care are considered severely emotionally disturbed. Almost all of the youngsters have been physically and / or sexually abused.
The reason for the therapeutic care compared to regular foster care is to avoid or reduce residential placements, and to have the child in a less intensive home, more of a normal enviroment.
All Foster Parents whether Regular or Therapeutic have to be State licensed. This requires trainings and an ongoing regime of trainings to be able to deal or handle the life of a foster child. These trainings are very helpful also for support from other foster parents who have had similiar situations as you and how they cope with them.
If you are interested in the State of Vermont Foster Care System or would like to be a Foster Parent go to :
