Foster care is one of those journeys that can feel a little bit like a roller coaster and families have to be ready to ride all the emotions and keep their focus on making the child feel loved and valued as a family member.
The Care for Children training team recently had an opportunity to train eight new foster families in the Northeast region of Thailand. Eager to learn all they could from the trainers before their new foster child joined the family, these newly vetted foster parents had the added advantage of hearing from experienced foster carers throughout the training. They shared from the heart about the ups and the downs, and their stories were a clear indicator of how dedicated they are to the children in their care.
“Can you share with us a little bit about your first day together?”
“She didn’t want to go inside the house. She was only a year-and-a-half. She started to cry the minute she got out of the van, and she plonked herself on the ground and sobbed.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, she let me pick her up and I held her and gently patted her back and she quietened down. But this went on for about a week.”
“How did you feel?”
“I’ve got to admit it was hard and I felt discouraged, but each day I could see her feel a little bit brighter and trust started to build.”
It can take a while before the child feels truly settled within their new home. Once a child is matched with suitable foster carers, there is an important process of transition, which is integral to how they settle in and adapt to their new surroundings. This was a key part of the training that was delivered.
Children must have a transition stage between meeting the foster carers and moving to live with them. This is an important time for children and carers as they get to know each other. There should be a gradual increase in the time spent in the foster carers’ home to help both the child and the family carers ensure that they are ready for the new family care arrangement.
“How did the children know they were part of your family now?”
“I told her the minute she stepped across the threshold to our house that she was one of our family now.”
“I prepared a room for her and told her that this was her very own bedroom and I showed her where she could put her things.”
“I told them (a brother and sister) that they were part of our family, but I also tried to show them with my actions.”
Care for Children’s Senior Trainer ‘Poy’ also shared the following:
“When we did the first two-day training the new foster parents hadn’t met their new foster child yet. They had already been given some background information about the child who would join their family, but they hadn’t seen a photo yet. It was so precious. You could feel their anticipation and excitement.
“A month or two later we got to go back and do a second training and by then the children had been in their new foster families for about a month. They had passed that initial adjustment period and you could just see the pride on their faces as they told us about their new family members. It is such a privilege to be involved in this work.”
Thank you for your support and for staying connected to our work!
The Thai project has just done something amazing, and we're excited to tell you all about it!
On April 4th, the Thai government launched the first ever national media campaign to raise awareness of foster care and to recruit more foster parents. This was a remarkable event with senior government ministers, foster families, child welfare staff, Care for Children staff, PR agency staff, media experts, national press and... the all important ‘Key Opinion Leaders’ or ‘KOLs’ who, with large social media followings, are the way to get the public's attention.
And it worked a treat!
Flanked by three popular social media stars in Thailand with a joint 'following' of 7 million, the Care for Children project team joined forces with the Royal Thai government to launch the campaign.
To date, there have been 62 media reports across TV, radio and digital media. This has resulted in estimated reach of 2,715,000 people!
So, what does a press launch for a national foster campaign look like? The media produced for the campaign includes:
All of this material is now 'out there' on TV, radio, newspapers... but perhaps most importantly, being shared on social media.
It's been a 10-year journey to get Thailand to this point, and we couldn't have done it without you!
On behalf of the children we serve together, and from all of us at Care for Children, thank you so much!
Links:
With the COVID pandemic still ever present, 2021 gave Care for Children’s Thai team lots of opportunities to learn new skills and become more flexible. Due to restrictions the team was unable to travel around Thailand to train staff from all 77 government Shelters for Children and Families. Instead it was decided to conduct the training online via Zoom, finding ways to persevere through power cuts, weak internet connections and other teething problems! The team missed the deeper connections that face-to-face training affords but were so grateful that hundreds of shelter staff across the country were still able to learn how to run a family care programme. Between September and November 2021, we were delighted to learn that thirteen shelters were able to place 83 children into 76 foster families!
The phrase, ‘All children in Thailand belong in safe and nurturing families’, not only became the banner to mark the occasion of World Children’s Day 2021 and the anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, but also the focus for 2022. Partnering with four Child Welfare Homes, sixteen shelters and two like-minded NGOs, this year saw the return of in-person training via 29 workshops to take an even deeper dive into creating mechanisms to ensure that children are afforded every opportunity to grow up and thrive in loving families.
We now know that the outcome of our work in Thailand to see orphans and vulnerable children placed into local, loving families will long outlive our presence in the country!
Thank you for your support and for staying connected to our work.
We recently caught up with one of the social workers that Care for Children has trained in Southeast Thailand. She told us about a very special foster family that she visited.
“Mrs Mon* is a retired teacher and is currently fostering two young brothers, Tong* who is 10, and Ti* who is 9. As their case worker I can see such a change in the boys since they have been with their foster family. They used to be children who couldn’t speak up for themselves, were scared of strangers and never dared to question anyone or let anyone know their needs. But the love and care the boys have received from Mrs Mon is evident, and they are now confident, speak well, and take responsibility with their schoolwork.
“Talking to Mrs Mon about her future and raising the children, she told me: ‘If the boys’ birth family are not able to take them back, I’m here for them and happy to be their long-term family. My goal is to give them every opportunity while they are part of my family.’
“When I visit her, she loves to pull out her phone and show me photos of the boys and the activities they have been doing. She also recounts the mischief they have been up to, but she tells it with a laugh and a smile. I'm drawn to this dear woman and her love for these boys.”
It's true, love in action is attractive, and often a blessing to be around! We wish Mrs Mon all the very best as she gives up her home and her time to care for vulnerable children in her community.
Thank you for your support and for staying connected to our work.
* Names changed to protect anonymity.
We are delighted to annouce that we have just signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Thai government, signalling the start of a very exciting stage of the project.
MoUs are key to the success of all our projects. They set out what it is expected of all key stakeholders and demonstrate a commitment from everybody involved to see orphans and vulnerable children growing up in families rather than in institutional care.
In line with a new government policy in Thailand, this MoU includes a commitment to see all children under 6 living in family-based care. In 2022, Care for Children will develop a national model of best-practice collaboration between Emergency Shelters for Children, Child Welfare Homes (commonly known as orphanages), community leaders and local network partners, to reduce the unnecessary placement of children into orphanages, and prioritise family-based care for children already in institutions, especially those under 6.
We just heard about a great example of how an Emergency Shelter recently helped prevent the unnecessary placement of two siblings into an orphanage by keeping a family together.
Recently the Shelter, located in Eastern Thailand, was contacted by grandparents whose daughter had sadly passed away while delivering her second child. The grandfather is unable to work as he suffers from diabetes, which leaves the grandmother as the sole breadwinner for the family. On her current salary she couldn’t see how she was going to cover the household expenses and provide for her two grandchildren.
The first thing the Shelter did was look into any benefits that the family might be entitled to. A child support subsidy of 600 baht a month might not sound like a lot, but every little bit contributes towards keeping the family together. Their next step was to assess the grandparents as to their suitability to be kinship carers.
The 9-year-old grandson is now doing well, helping his grandparents with chores, helping with the care of his new baby brother and thriving in the care of his grandparents.
We know that a nurturing family is the best place for children and the benefits these two siblings receive by being able to stay with their grandparents can’t be understated. The grandparents will now receive a foster care allowance each month and the Shelter will follow-up and monitor their progress.
Thank you for your support and staying connected to our work.
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