Govt. opens opportunity to temporary foster kids under state care

Ministry of Social and Family Development has announced the opportunity to temporarily foster children under state-care for those interested.

Temporarily fostering a child is when the state temporarily hands over the care of a child under state care to a couple. The minimum period a child’s care is handed over in this regard is two years as per the regulation stipulated by the Ministry.

At present, permanent fostering is available for those interested under which the legal guardianship of a child under state care is handed over till they turn 18.

The Ministry has now opened the opportunity to temporarily foster children, they announced on Wednesday.

The purpose of temporarily handing over the care of the child for a stipulated period is to encourage the biological family of the child to improve their living situation while paving the way for the child to reside in a familial environment where they are loved and cared for during this period.

Under the temporary foster system, the foster family can continue to assume caring for the child after the end of the stipulated period if the living situation of the child’s biological family has not improved, states the Ministry.

The foster family also reserves the right to apply for the permanent legal guardianship of children fostered under the temporary foster system.

Statistics show that there are 169 children under the age of 18 in state care at present.

The Ministry, noting they continuously work towards reintegrating these children back with their biological families or paving the way for these children to live in a familial environment, said the opportunity to temporarily foster children under state care had been opened to achieve this.

‘A family for every child’ is an important pledge of the current administration in its first 14-week roadmap.