Have you ever heard of so-called transitional foster care? If you have seen the term but do not know what it is, read on. You may be attracted to the idea of becoming a foster parent, or you may know a family that cannot have children of their own. Or maybe you have a relative who feels abandoned after a child leaves the nest in your family, but still has the energy and desire to be needed. And continue to give love. That may be a prerequisite for becoming a temporary foster parent.
Indeed, there are still many children who are not “legally” free to be put up for adoption. And there is another group of children who can be placed in temporary foster care or long-term foster care by the courts.
Today\’s article will focus on temporary foster care. To become a temporary foster parent and take care of someone else\’s baby, you must be interested yourself. If you are thinking about creating a family and literally fostering and caring for a baby, talk to your partner to see if he or she is interested. Imagine that one day a baby appears in a crib in your home and you care for it wholeheartedly. If you are healthy, or if you are sick, or if your own mother has failed to break her drug addiction, you may eventually develop psychosomatic symptoms or various withdrawal symptoms. Temporary foster parents take care of the baby until he or she turns one year old, after which the baby is turned over to the new parents or other long-term foster parents by court order.
Temporary foster parents care for newborns who are in life-threatening danger, such as suspected abuse or when a parent has died and there is no one to care for the baby, and must be immediately removed from the original family. The courts are slow to make decisions, and children often remain in protective custody for “more than a year” after birth. While this should not happen, it often does.
Foster parents undergo psychological testing, receive specialized training, practice foster care as a profession, and are paid by the state for their services. Foster parents receive a so-called foster parent fee, which amounts to SEK 20,000 per month. Foster parents are paid for the fact that they must be able to respond immediately at any time if a child has a sudden change of situation and is taken into care.
Temporary foster care can only be provided by a mature person who knows that he or she is temporarily fostering a child and thus cannot form an emotional attachment to the child that would subsequently become an obstacle in handing the child over to the new parents.