About Fostering

Yes. The final decision to accept a child is yours. Nobody can force you to accept a placement referral.

Child welfare organizations do their best to provide a fulsome picture of the child's strengths and needs. A document called a "Pre-Placement Assessment" will be provided to aid in your informed decision making. That said, sometimes children come into care on an emergency basis and these placements will need to be carefully considered.

Not at first. It's best to use your existing home and only move if you feel ready to accept more children. Even then, you will need to ensure that a move would not add any financial hardship to your family.

Absolutely. Some consideration will be given to your time availability and work commitments as we do with all potential foster homes so just be sure you are able to handle this on your own. We will be happy to discuss your individual circumstances with you.

Foster parents are not "compensated" the way an employee would. In fact, the money foster parents receive is meant to cover the costs of caring for an additional child. Some people get confused and see fostering as a job when it is more akin to being a volunteer. Depending on the needs of the child, a new foster parent will receive between $80 - $90 per day*(called a per diem) for each child placed in their home.
*Includes $5 training and compliance bonus plus $10 towards "respite care".

Short-term breaks of a few days are called "respite". This can be done by a child staying at another foster home for a weekend or a youth worker staying at your home while you take some time for yourself. We will be happy to discuss the details of how this works with you.

This will depend on if the child has court-ordered visits with their family and if their guardian is willing to approve the trip. Most of the time it isn't a concern but if it is, we will work our best to provide a respite home for the child. In some cases, we even receive additional funding for airfare.

No. While the "per diem" covers day-to-day costs such as clothing, hygiene, school supplies, etc., exceptional costs like dental, medical devices, therapy and more will have additional funding provided.

First, we discuss our program with you over the phone and ask some screening questions. If Safe Harbours and you want to move ahead, we will arrange a time to visit you and your family at your home. A visual assessment of your home and we discuss in more detail what to expect from caring for children living away from their home. Afterward, we send some paperwork for you to complete, we conduct interviews with everyone in the home for a report called a "Home Study", training is provided, and once all of that is complete - your home is open for placements.

All caregivers need to complete a Vulnerable Sector Police Check and a Child Welfare Check. The child welfare check will let us know if the caregiver has even been involved in a child welfare investigation. Additionally, we contact references from the caregiver's family and community.

This does happen and don't feel bad if it does. Absent of a safety concern, we would notify the organization that referred the child to let them know they will need to seek out a new home. This can happen quickly or take a bit more time, up to 30 days. If it is your desire to stop fostering, we ask that you allow all children to move into their new homes before closing yours to new placements.