Becoming A Foster Parent Essay

The process of children returning to their families of origin who have been placed in temporary care is called Family reunification. It is also the most common goal for children that are placed in foster care. An important concept to realize when becoming a foster parent is that a big part of their job is to support and encourage family reunification. There are thousands of children who enter the foster care system with a powerful need for stability, happiness, safety, and love. Foster care is a temporary arrangement that’s essential for children who are unable to remain in their own homes due to abuse, neglect, mental health needs or some other issue that has produced an unsafe and unhealthy environment. Becoming a foster parent is a huge commitment that requires opening your heart and home by giving love to children who may not know what love is and may not know how to accept it. Foster parents also need to
All parents can benefit from any helpful information, guidance, and resources as they encounter the challenges of parenthood and family life. A “Historically, family reunification has been regarded as an “either–or” process, in which children are either reunified with their families or placed into other permanent families such as kinship or adoptive placements”. A “However, contemporary arguments calling for a less compartmentalized approach have transformed the meaning of family reunification into a continuum that might include varied outcomes such as physical reunification of the family, periodic visitation with the family of origin, or maintaining partial contact via written or telephone correspondence. This perspective considers family reunification to be a dynamic process, and it acknowledges that each child and family has unique needs, that not every parent can be a full-time caregiver, and that families can still maintain attachment ties even when living apart”.