A Calgary agency is looking to present what becoming a foster family entails to the community of Cochrane late September.

Tenchoe Dorjee a Foster Care Recruiter for McMan says she wants to bust some myths that surround the fostering program. "We're really trying to re-educate the public in terms of 'Who are the kids in foster care? What are the needs we presently see?' a lot of people, I think, know about foster care but not really know anything about it; so familiarizing people about it and what it actually is."

Dorjee says currently, the system is seeing lots of infants and toddlers needing placement which ranges in age from 0-6. In 2016, the McMan agency saw 48% of cases involve children 0-6, 25% of school aged children 7-11, and 27% youth 12-17. Dorjee shares a number of kids needing placement is like a pendulum swing and currently, cases are on the rise. While there is no one contributing factor, the economy plays a part. "It depends on legislation, a lot of it has to do with the econmic downturn and what is going on in the province."

Some of the fallacies Dorjee would like to clear up is the fact that people believe a lot of kids in the foster system are teens that have suffered extreme trauma and abuse. "While that is the case for some kids in foster care, there is high demand right now with the infants and toddlers; these (children) could have only been in their family setting for a couple of months, couple years, or even a couple of days."

Another myth is that people believe it must take a saint to foster and that it is emotionally taxing when a child leaves. "Of course it is hard, there is doubt about it, but there is training put in place, there is grief counselling. The goal of foster care is always unification whether it is unification with the biological parent, family or alternate permanency plans. People shouldn't go into fostering with the idea that I am going to adopt every single child I foster. You do hear cases and it does happen but we always try to set the stage that most cases foster parents help in the short-term need and then move the child onto what they need to go to."

Foster children, for the most part, need families that can provide them with stability, routine, and attention. "All foster parents have to go through training and more specialized training as we see fit for the child." Qualifications to become a foster parent include; having their own bedroom (under 12 on the same floor as the foster parent), making sure all applicants are meeting health standards through a health check, references and criminal checks, adequate space, and access to the community and recreation. Foster families can range in age, have children of their own, be single or be same-sex couples as long as they can work with different cultures and beliefs and keep the child connected to the community.

If you were wondering about the benefits of becoming a foster parent, there are many. "Fostering really takes a village to raise a child, it is helping those that need the help. Often times there is a misconception that the biological parents must have screwed up bad but a lot of cases they are human and they made a mistake, they are trying to fix their lives and they need help."

McMan is offering an information night, September 11 in Calgary for anyone interested in hearing more about fostering before the community outreach night in Cochrane. If you are interested RSVP at Tenchoe.Dorjee@mcman.ca

We will update the community on the Cochrane meeting once details are firmed up.