For eight children in Kozhikode district, the new year began on a positive note. Residents of various childcare institutions, they were placed with foster families as part of the foster care programme implemented by the Women and Child Development department in the State. The children had spent 10 days with these families during the Christmas vacation as part of vacation foster care. When they were found to have adjusted well with their new home environment, their stay was extended by three months and could be further increased to long-term foster care.
In all, 72 children have been placed in long-term foster care across the State in 2023. Children may also be placed under three other foster care programmes — vacation foster care, kinship foster care, and group foster care.
The foster care programme in the State is picking up following a lull in the wake of COVID-19. Under the fostering arrangement, a child lives temporarily with an extended or unrelated family so that their institutionalisation can be prevented and they can grow up in a familial environment. Children who are not legally free for adoption and whose parents are unable to care for them owing to illness, death, or desertion by one parent can be placed in foster care.
Shibin A.P., protection officer, non-institutional care, Kozhikode, said they had prepared a plan for placing the eight children with families during Christmas, and the vacation foster care was then extended to a longer stay.
Applications are received from interested foster parents along with documents, including police clearance certificate, through the district child protection unit (DCPU). Foster care assessment and home study are conducted and their report submitted to the child welfare committee. A matching process then follows to match the children identified for foster care with the families that have applied. The children are then placed in vacation, kinship, or group foster care.
Three boys, five girls
Mr. Shibin said their attempt was to place the children in long-term foster care, rather than vacation foster care. Of the eight children placed in foster care most recently, three were boys and five girls – all of them above the age of 10. The children, he said, were being shifted to schools near their foster families. They had been placed in short-term foster care for an initial period of three months, after which a review would be held and if both the children and the families are satisfied, it could be extended to up to a year. This could continue till the children reach 18, he said.
Two of the children placed in foster care were differently abled. The biological parent of one child was present during the handing over of the children to the foster families, Mr. Shibin said.
The children, he said, would be presented in front of the child welfare committee every three months to monitor the arrangement.
Forty-nine children were placed under vacation foster care and 115 under kinship foster care in 2023.
