By Sheldon Spackman

stability for those in need

Information session Tuesday for potential foster parents

Oct 26, 2020 | 1:56 PM

Addressing the need for more foster parents in central Alberta is the goal behind an information session being held in Lacombe on Tuesday night.

The session runs from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the McMan Family Resource Network office, located at Unit 4, 4725 49B Avenue.

Jacki Collisson, Lead Practice Specialist for McMan Youth Family and Community Services, says the event is a great way to learn more about foster care and what exactly is involved.

“Being a foster parent means being able to provide that stability to a child in need,” she explains. “Children have a variety of different needs and quite often, the hope is always that foster care will be a temporary arrangement and that eventually the child will be able to be reunified with their family of origin. Adoption is actually, you are taking on the parental role on a permanent basis – the biological parents of the child in question have had their parental rights relinquished and you are taking on that role as the parent.”

Collisson admits there can sometimes be misconceptions about how foster care works, adding that it’s different from adoption.

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“Maybe not all people understand the many different factors that could bring a child into care,” says Collisson. “Addictions, abuse, domestic violence, but then there’s so many factors that go into that as well. We don’t understand what’s really going on in that parent’s life to get them to that point and by no means does it mean that they don’t love their child or children, it’s just that they’re in a situation that just doesn’t give them the opportunity or skills to provide the best possible care for their child at that time.”

Collisson says McMan Family Resource Network receives an average of two to three calls per week from their referral sources looking for homes for children in central Alberta.

“It’s for all ages. From birth, right up to 18,” she points out. “It’s not a specific age group, it’s the whole gamut and quite often it can be siblings, not just a single child. There might be two or three children involved that are all-needing a foster home.”

Collisson says they work as hard as they can to help ensure very child and family is set up with a good match.

“If we can’t, there are other agencies that we can refer to,” adds Collisson. “But fostering is not just allocated to two parent homes. We have single individuals that are foster parents, so until you get that information, a person may not know and not pursue that path.

“We definitely do need foster homes right across the central region, so I certainly welcome anybody that would like to come and hear more.”