Tilaa kasvaa, aikaa olla
Lapsennäköistä, turvallista sijaishuoltoa
Pride preparatory training offers an opportunity to get to know foster parenting at your own pace and to gain information about what foster parenting means in practice. Taking part in the training does not yet mean a decision to become a foster carer; it offers information and an occasion to pause and consider your own capacities and life situation in support of an individual process of deliberation.
Child welfare substitute care is always based on a safe environment for growth that is in the child's best interests, as well as on individual care and upbringing. The aim of preparatory training is that a child in need of substitute care is able to live in a family that has been prepared and has prepared itself for the task of foster parenting.
A foster parent offers the child a safe, accepting and predictable environment in which to grow. They look after the child's basic needs, health, schooling and the running of everyday life, and set safe boundaries for the child. Protection also means that the adult recognises the child's possible special needs, vulnerability and the effects of earlier experiences, and is able to respond to them calmly and consistently.
A foster parent sees the child as their own unique individual and accepts them as they are. They support the child's growth, learning, strengths, interests and growing independence from the child's own starting points. The child's background, age, developmental level, temperament, culture and earlier experiences are taken into account in everyday life. It is also important to be able to share in the child's successes and to hold them up when things are not going well.
A foster parent understands that the child's own parents, siblings and other close people remain significant to the child, even while the child lives in a foster family. They support the child's contact with them and treat the child's close ones with respect. A foster parent also needs the ability to handle their own feelings and any conflicts, so that these do not become the child's burden to carry.
A child needs the experience that an adult is by their side and will stay in their life. A foster parent stays committed to the child even when everyday life is challenging or the child's behaviour stirs difficult feelings. They keep to what has been agreed, build safe routines and help the child understand what will happen next. At the same time, they accept that in foster care there may be changes and uncertainty in the child's life that they cannot control themselves.
Foster parenting is cooperation. A foster parent must be able to work together with the child's parents, the social worker, the school, health care and others involved in the child's life. This requires open communication and the ability to listen to different views, as well as to accept help and support.
The framework of the Pride training is built around these five competencies.
The task of the trainers is to support and help participants to find and assess their own strengths and areas for development, so that participants form as realistic a picture as possible of foster parenting as part of their own life.
The aim of the group meetings is shared reflection and dialogue on the needs of a placed child and on family care. We keep group sizes moderate so that a safe space for open interaction can arise for participants. The training is led by our company's family care social worker together with a foster carer as a working pair. The training lasts approximately 4–6 months.
If you have been considering foster parenting, please get in touch and let's talk more.
Annamari Jansen
Social worker responsible for family care
Tel. 040-5166089
annamarijansen@nummenlinna.fi