The Right Home Ensuring Children’s Rights: The Foster Family

“Luke seems to be making progress! I remember earlier when adults left for a while; he would get a little emotional.”

“Because I have an arrangement with him, every day when I cook, he watches an episode of Little Hero Poli, and then, it's time to eat together. After a period of time, he has gotten used to this way of doing things!”
 
The progress of this child's development has been obvious to all. When Auntie Zhang talks to the social worker about Luke, her eyes light up with pride. Luke came to this foster family to live with Auntie Zhang three months ago. Because of challenges in his birth family, they couldn’t take care of him for a while. After the social workers' assessment and match process, a suitable foster family was found for him. Meeting Luke's daily physical needs is important but not the only priority. Protecting his rights to develop and grow while serving his best interests is critical.
 
A couple of progressive interactions has been arranged for Luke to get familiar with Auntie Zhang before he moved into her home. However, right after his arrival, he refused to leave Auntie's side for even a second. Whenever Auntie was out of sight cooking dinner, he would start to get upset and even threw tantrums. The behavior has improved later though, Auntie Zhang explained, "Because, after watching TV every day, we eat dinner together, he is so smart that he knows I will play with him again later. So, he doesn't get upset.” Having a structured schedule for Luke , he began to anticipate the daily routine. He no longer felt insecure. His kindergarten teacher also told Auntie Zhang that Luke no longer dropped rice all over the table when he ate by himself, and he liked to share toys with the classmates.
 
According to the social worker, Luke has more facial expression, is using more words. Furthermore he has started to talk and share more than before. He becomes a child who loves to smile. Because of Auntie Zhang's good care, even though Luke is not with his birth family at this time, he is provided so he can grow in a loving environment and maintain a happy childhood with sound physical and mental development.
 
World Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20^th, the day the UN General Assembly adopted one of the most important human rights conventions in history, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This convention proclaims that "children are individuals with full human rights" and that society has a responsibility to protect the rights of children to grow up safely. The Convention has provided universal children rights standards for children in different regions and has helped to improve the situation of many underprivileged children for the past 33 years.
 
On November 20^th, 2014, the Implementation Act of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was also passed in Taiwan. This act incorporates the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child legally: non-discrimination, best interests of the child, right to life, survival and development, and respect for the views of the child. These concepts are also incorporated into Taiwan's various child and family welfare laws and regulations to align with international human rights standards.
 
According to our social workers, it is important to realize that most children in foster care have traumatic experiences. Large or small, these traumas affects the child's physical and psychological development to some extent; this is "trauma-Informed care (TIC)".
 
Children do not only require care. Using their professional skills, the social worker needs to sort out the past that caused the present situation. This is essential in order to find the direction to help with the children's future.
 
Compared to group life in a children’s home, the family-like living and care resources offered by foster families are usually more suitable to provide an individualized and appropriate developmental environment for each child.
 
The Christian Salvation Service holds recruitment sessions for foster family every year. This service invites people willing to help others the opportunity to learn more about foster care and consider about becoming a foster family. Even with the addition of new families, still more families are needed. Some long-term foster families drop out of the network for different reasons and need to be replaced. While this is a long journey as we work to protect the developmental rights of children, CSS thrift to ensure that more and better prepared foster families join this very important service. Let's embrace children in need with love and action! Together, we can ensure they grow up happy and well.