Dedicated agencies to grow, support pool of foster parents

SINGAPORE — Juggling four children and a full-time job would be tough for most people, but it did not stop Madam Joy Shuo, 36, from joining the Fostering Scheme three years ago and taking in two foster children.

Since Mdm Audrey Lourdes Thomas, 46, became a foster mother in 2004, she has cared for about 10 children, including a 10-year-old boy who has been living with her since he was a baby.

The two women are part of a pool of people the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) intends to grow by setting up dedicated fostering agencies to recruit, train and support both existing and potential foster parents.

To that end, two voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) — Boys’ Town and MCYC Community Services Society — were the first to be chosen by the ministry to set up the agencies by June.

The MSF will work closely with the appointed fostering agencies through training, joint case discussions and job shadowing with MSF Fostering Services staff.

The move is part of an S$8 million three-year pilot, announced in October last year by Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing, to expand the scheme to care for about 600 vulnerable children within the next five years. Currently, the MSF is the only formal provider of foster care, with about 330 children on the Fostering Scheme who are cared for by over 280 foster parents.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Boys’ Town yesterday, Mr Chan said the two VWOs were chosen because they already have the infrastructure and fostering will be an extension of their current work.

“For those children with higher needs and higher risks, they will continue to remain in the home. For those (who) we deem are ready to re-integrate into the community, they will have this continuum of services from the institutional home here, extending to the foster parents,” he said.

Even though institutional homes form one layer of protection for children who are not old enough for independent living but whose families are not ready to take them home, Mr Chan said it is not the most natural environment for children to grow up in.

“And this is the reason why, over the years, we have tried to step up the foster parent scheme,” he added.

MCYC executive director Tan Khye Suan said direct management of foster parents after they are matched with a child — which was usually handled by the MSF — is going to be a new area for the VWO, with the setting up of its new fostering agency in its Bukit Batok Central office. MCYC has previously done fostering work such as recruiting, assessing and training foster parents.

Mrs Irene Loi, executive director of Boys’ Town, which is better known for its residential home service for troubled boys, said the most important part of its work now is looking for potential partners to help recruit foster parents.

“We can’t do recruitment activities alone. We need partnerships, we need people who have a buy-in and can spread the news around. So, that would be the most challenging (task) at this point for us: To find parents and to ensure they are the right people with the right heart, then to train them and ... match the kids to them,” she added.