Children's Authority fosters love for children in need

TODAY is Mother’s Day, a day on which we pay homage to mothers and their influence in the society.

One woman, Wendy (not her real name) has been doing her part as a mother in ways that count the most.

For despite having no biological children of her own, at different times over the past nine years she has been the foster mother to nine children who were unable to stay in their family homes for a number of reasons.

Wendy told Newsday she became an approved foster care provider under the Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago in 2015, and describes the experience as “very fulfilling.”

She said knowing that a she can help a child who came from an unfortunate situation and give them a fighting chance in life makes her feel like being a foster mother is one of her life’s purpose.

“My husband and I have been married for 18 years. We tried having children but we were unsuccessful. We considered adoption but we didn’t know how to go about it.”

She was unaware that foster care was an option in Trinidad and Tobago until one of her work colleagues, in whom she had confided, saw an ad in the newspaper asking for expression of interest for foster care.

“She discretely cut it out and placed it on my desk. I showed it to my husband, and even then we didn’t know the difference between the two (foster care and adoption). We sent an e-mail and within a week the Children’s Authority responded and asked us to come in for an interview.”

Her introduction to motherhood came about four months later, after they were evaluated, trained and approved as foster parents.

“Within a couple of weeks we had our first foster child, a one-month-old baby. Since then we’ve had nine children.”

She currently has two children under her care – a boy and a girl.

“The girl came to live with us when she was five, the boy came when he was eight months old. He has always called me ‘mom’. She used to call me ‘aunty’ and then one day I realised she was calling me ‘mom’ too.”

Wendy understands that, unlike adoption, it is a temporary arrangement and said the most challenging part was saying goodbye when the children had to leave her home.

“You fall in love with them and then you have to return them. My first experience was with the baby, who stayed for three months. We were told upfront that he was up for adoption, but we were still hoping.

“It was emotionally distressing for us when he had to leave,” and they underwent counselling to deal with it.

“That gave us time to recalibrate, and we accepted that we just had to change our mindset.

“People ask us why we still do it. I‘ve come to realisation that this is not about me, but about the child I’m helping, whether for short- or long-term.

“Other people say ‘you all are doing such a good job, you will be blessed,’ but we see it as our opportunity to bless someone else. God has continued to bless us and we just want to pass on the blessings.”

She said because the Children’s Authority ensures the children who are old enough to understand are prepared mentally for the moves, the children were able to adapt easily.

“Plus, children are resilient. They just settled like they’d always been living with us,” Wendy said.

Anjuli Tewari, team lead Foster Care at the Children’s Authority said the foster care programme, unlike the adoption programme, is temporary and is not a long, complicated process.

“What we’re actually doing is finding temporary families for children when their families are in trouble, when they are in difficulties, or when they (children) are at risk…but we’ve found that temporary can mean a lot of different things…temporary is kind of on a spectrum.”

The ultimate goal, though, is to provide a safe, stable and nurturing family environment for children until they can be reunited with their family, or other suitable long-term living arrangements can be made.”

She said where possible, the authority tries its best to place children back with their families, but sometimes circumstances prevent that, and there have been times when the authority has come under heavy criticism for removing children from their family home when it becomes necessary.

“But we would never keep a child from family’s care unless there are reasons preventing us from doing so.”

There are different categories of foster care – emergency, medium-term, long-term, specialist, respite and kinship – and children are placed based on their circumstances.

Ideally, emergency lasts from one day to two weeks; medium-term, from two weeks to six months; and long-term, six months and over, but situations are not always ideal. Children with additional needs such as those with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning difficulties are placed in specialist foster care and foster parents are given additional training if necessary. Respite care is used in situations where a foster parent has an obligation that cannot be put off, such as a medical procedure.

“We can place that child with another foster parent temporarily so you know the child is going to a safe space,” Tewari said.

Kinship foster care was established in August 2023 when, under The Children’s Community Residences Foster Care and Nurseries Act Chap 46:11, the Children’s Authority was given the green light to allow some relatives to become foster parents. The legislation stipulates that only step-parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters can take on the role of kinship foster parents.

“It covers quite a bit…in the future we hope it will expand.”

But, she said, if a relative wants to care for a child and the parent gives consent, there is no need to go through the courts.

There are currently 85 approved foster care providers in Trinidad and Tobago, seven of which are in Tobago, and 21 kinship foster care providers. To date there are 143 children in foster care.

“I get calls every day and have to turn down placements because we don’t have enough foster care providers. Of that 85 we have, very few of them are available because they all currently have foster children in their care. But a lot of them still try to help us out.

“But we really are appealing to the public to come forward, to volunteer to fill those gaps because we’re putting more and more children in the children’s homes.”

She said the fact that foster parents are only able to take one or two children at any given time makes it more challenging, especially when it comes to those with disabilities.

“We have a tonne of kids who come to us with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, developmental delays, and we do ask that persons, if they have that extra skill set, to come forward.”

She said it’s difficult to determine exactly how many children are in need of foster homes because “day by day we get requests, and if we can’t address those requests those kids have to go somewhere else…they would go into a children’s homes.”

Although the authority places from newborn to children up to 17 in foster care, Tewari said most times people want babies, which poses another challenge.

“They want newborns, perfect children with no issues…There are a lot of teenagers out there who need that love and stability, in order to change their trajectory.

“Can you imagine a troubled child who’s never gone to school, never had that love, never had that attention, if they have that loving home? It could really change their circumstances and their future. With larger groups of siblings, we do try to keep them together, but often we have to split them up.”

Ultimately, the choice remains with the foster parent.

“You can say to us, ‘I prefer boy or girl. I prefer a toddler or a teenager. I have the capacity to care for a child with special needs.’ We would never force a child upon you.”

And anyone can apply once they meet the criteria.

“Our legislation doesn’t prevent anyone from applying – you can be single, married, cohabitating…if you’re an older individual and it’s difficult for you to look after baby, we may ask you to consider an older child who may not rely on you as much. But when we go into our checks, we just need to make sure you’re able and capable to meet the needs of child.”

Also, she said, “You need to be able to take care of your own needs, so you need to prove that income is coming into the home and your needs are sufficiently met.”

Tewari said once an applicant submits all the necessary documents and undergoes the training, the process can take as little as four months.

All applicants are required to fill out a form; do a medical; get police certificates of character and have background checks done on all members of the household over the age of 18; have their home assessed by the authority; all members of the household must undergo an in-depth interview; the applicant must undergo a psychological assessment and reference checks, and do training and that deals with things like child protection, child safety, dealing with medical issues of a child, child development and behaviour management.

“We come into your home to do a home assessment and make sure your space is safe. It does not need to be perfect, it does not need to be brand new, it just needs to be safe for the age of the child that you are planning to care for. We need to make sure everybody’s on board…and everything is totally confidential.”

Completed applications are sent to the Board, and once approved, applicants are added to the list on the foster care provider register.

But the authority’s work does not end there, as it continues to support and monitor its foster parents, and as part of the foster care agreement, foster parent must inform the authority of any significant changes.

“Once a child is placed in your care, it’s not like we just leave a child with you and leave. We are mandated to monitor that child and provide support to the foster parent. If you move home, or you remarry, or a member of your family moves in with you, anything significant, we do ask you to let us know…and if there’s any sign of risk or any sort of issues popping up in a foster home, we would put certain things in place, whether it is additional psychological support, whether it is that we have to remove the child straight away, whether we have to put the foster parent through additional training, we do put things in place to mitigate or reduce any risk.”

She said the authority also provides psychological and other types of support, including a monthly stipend to assist with the child’s needs.

“What we give to foster parents is not for them; it’s money that goes towards the needs of the child…for school, medical, day-to-day needs…And so we do our checks on that as well.”

Tewari said there may be foster parents whose names are on the adoption lists, but this does not guarantee that fostering a child will lead to adoption.

“We do stringent training and vetting to make sure you understand the child coming into your home as a foster child is not eventually going to guarantee or lead to adoption…but if they (applicants) meet the criteria, they may be an option for that foster child for the long term.”

Tewari has been on the foster care team since its inception and believes when, as an adult, a foster child looks back on their life – that there was stranger willing to give them that love, care and attention they needed and asked for nothing in return – it can make all the difference.

“And I really feel as though no matter the time frame, whether it’s one night, whether it’s 15 years, foster care can make a significant change in a child’s life.”

For more information on foster care visit https://ttchildren.org/