My dictionary describes a profession as one requiring training and specialized study. A person engaged in that occupation is considered a professional. So, why not foster parents? For many year now, I have been fighting for foster parents to be considered professionals. As a foster parent I went through the experiences of being talked down to and considered a non-professional. I think the fight must go on since foster parents deserve the classification of professionals.'
A good foster parent goes through many hours of training every year. You are required to educate yourself on a number of pertinent issues. Every year, new information, concepts, programs, and issues are brought forth. A foster parent is required to study these just to do their job. If training makes one a professional, an expert, than surely the foster parent should be considered so. When others are heard to say, but they are just foster parents, I start to lose control.
Lots of foster parents have worked with kids for decades. How many professional people do you know that study that long to be a doctor, lawyer, or teacher. We consider these people professionals, however.
What people tend to forget is the fact that in addition to training, required and otherwise, foster parents must learn on the job everyday. It becomes a necessity for new topics to be mastered with every new foster child. You may be immediately forced to learn about specific learning disabilities, behaviors, and illnesses.
A foster parent searches out information needed and begins to study the facts until they are well versed on the subject. An older, more experienced foster parent will already have studied hundreds of topics, while a beginning foster parent will need to learn everything and quickly.
As a new foster parent I knew little about drugs, but as an experienced foster parent I knew much more than I cared to know. I learned the general symptoms of a child on drugs and also the symptoms of each individual drug. Eventually I recognized many drugs by sight, knew the street names, and what they sold for. I even knew by whom and where they were being sold sometimes. The point is by necessity I became an expert on the subject.
Foster care requires a proficiency in behaviors and the accompanying acronyms that describe these disorders. Most foster parents develop an amazing medical knowledge since you regulate the health and monitor the medication of those children placed in your home. You must know CPR and first aid and be able to qualify in the Red Cross testing of these skills. A foster parent knows about a variety of medications and how to determine if they were really taken or not.
Today's foster parent must be pretty aware of all the educational options for kids. It is imperative that they know what the rights of the children are in the expectation that they receive an adequate education. You must understand Personal Education Plans and often act in the place of a parent when making educational decisions.
When foster kids challenge the law, they usually lose. The foster mom or dad is probably the one to make sure they have an adult present when being interrogated. They know a great deal about court proceedings since they attend hearings so often.
They must learn the process and often know as much as lawyers about possible resources for the children. Community service spots, restitution possibilities, programs with available space, and even which judge is best for which kid is common knowledge to the foster parent. They may have researched facilities and can advocate for their kids when the decision is being made as to where to put them.
You add to this that foster parents must understand, be able to function in, or least have knowledge of youth culture and you start to see how versatile these folks are.
The foster parent is an efficiency expert feeding large amounts of people and running a huge household on a limited budget. An expert at scheduling, they balance more meetings, appointments, and activities than a business executive does. The foster care chauffeur has figured out how to drive everyone, everywhere in different directions and get them all to their respective places on time. The schedule some foster parents keep would wilt the toughest person.
Together, foster parent couples have studied enough topics to earn several degrees, but where is their diploma. Some certification is now available, but it is still a far cry from the degree.
Yes, the lawyer, doctor, and teacher have a great deal of knowledge and do deserve the professional designation. Usually, they are only experts in one general area. Foster parents need to be master of many areas.
So, foster parents act like and expect to be treated like professionals because you are. The rest of the world will recognize it some day. Till then, some of us do consider foster care a profession and all of you professionals. I salute you.