Difficulties of Foster Parents
There are many difficulties facing foster parents as they care for foster children, including financial burdens as well as potential emotional concerns. After all, children are not removed from their home if all is going well. There also are many joys of being a foster parent that can outweigh the negatives. Foster parents provide a service that is to be commended as they overcome the challenges.
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Financial Challenges
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Adding a foster child to your family brings an added expense, whether the child is the only child in the house or you are adding another child to your family. The costs for clothing, groceries and medical expenses will go up, and you may have child care expenses as well. There also are expenses for school supplies, toys, birthday parties, family outings and activities. While there is usually a monthly foster care reimbursement that foster care parents receive, it seldom covers all of the increased expenses that foster care parents encounter.
Behavioral Challenges
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The majority of foster children are removed from their home due to unfortunate circumstances. Many of these children have developmental delays, learning disabilities and behavioral challenges. Children often display these issues by acting out. They also may display anger, develop depression or become overly introverted. These are all issues that foster parents may face. Foster parents may have to seek out professional assistance for their foster child and themselves to ensure that their foster child has all the available opportunities to overcome any social, emotional or academic issues.
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Surprises
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Social workers working within foster programs try their best to give foster parents all the necessary information that foster parents may need. However, a social worker can't possibly know everything about the child. There is no way to know issues that may arise later, such as medical concerns, low IQ or other disabilities. Sometimes children are removed from their home quickly and placed in foster homes and foster parents may not even know birthdays, grade levels, middle names or other important factual information. Social workers do work with foster parents to determine this information, but sometimes this information is slow in coming.
Bonding
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While foster parents usually have the best intentions, it is sometimes impossible to bond with foster children as closely as with your own. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and guilt for the foster parents. It sometimes takes a conscientious effort to treat your own children and foster children the same, with the same expectations, rewards and consequences.
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References
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