Fostering Disabled Child with Special Care Needs

Children with ‘special care’ needs are not limited to those with primary medical needs and disabilities. They can also refer to those who experience developmental delays or intellectual disabilities, as well as those who may be battling emotional disorders. It takes a well-trained foster parent who is physically, mentally, and emotionally stable to give a child the special care he or she needs not only to survive, but also to thrive and be able to reach their full potential. Fostering, as often said, is a mission. If you have a heart for children who have special needs and want to make a difference in the lives of those who have been neglected and abandoned, fostering a child might be a good step to consider.

Here are some things you should know when thinking about taking a special needs child to be in your care:

• Some children enter the foster care system with serious congenital or on-going illness, chronic condition, or a progressive ailment that needs special attention. Too many of those who need primary medical care remain in institutional settings or worse, in hospitals, when what they actually need is a nurturing, committed, and skilled family home. Fostering a child with habilitative and medical needs requires great commitment and heart. While this may seem like a huge challenge, you are never alone in giving care to special needs foster children as they also often require regular interventions from skilled caregivers.
• Other foster children may be facing developmental delays or intellectual disabilities. You would often find them in emergency shelters and like institutional settings. For them to grow in capability, they need to be put in loving homes where they can be cared for and given ample attention. These children may require assistance in developing social, conceptual, and even practical adaptive skills. They may suffer from severe impairment in cognition and communication or they may lack the ability to perform self-care activities. Others may be inflicted with multiple physical disabilities or mental impairments that will test your commitment. These are only some of the things you should be prepared for when considering fostering a child with developmental delays or intellectual disabilities.
• You may also encounter special needs children with emotional disorders and issues. These children often remain in emergency shelters and residential treatment centres, which are not exactly the best places to help them recover from their emotional state. What these children need is a stable and accepting family environment that can help them through whatever mood, emotional, psychotic, or dissociative disorder they may be struggling with.

About the Author:

Pride Fostering Service is Established in 2009 and strives to provide special place for children with complex and challenging needs as well as mainstream foster care. As, they are part of the Sunbeam Fostering Group, one of the largest and most progressive independent fostering agencies in London, rated as Outstanding by Ofsted.