Upper Murray Family Care is starting 2017 fresh – not only in a new building but with the hope a record number of carers will come through its doors.
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The organisation moved into its two-storey home on Stanley Street in Wodonga just before Christmas, consolidating services previously in four separate locations.
Foster care assessment and training senior practitioner Jill Roberts hoped it would attract attention from residents.
“We need to keep continually getting the word out we need foster carers,” she said. “We never know how people will get interested – they might read an article, see a poster, or talk to somebody.
“The more we can keep it out there, the more we have chances of recruiting.”
In 2016, 29 new households became a home to children in foster, emergency or respite care.
Ms Roberts said it followed a promising trend in uptake.
“29 was a very good year – the year before there were 23 or 24 – and we’re hoping for the 30-mark this year if we can,” he said.
“We’ve come a long way in the last three or four years. We’ve started to see an increase and we’re fortunate we have a lot of support.”
UMFC launched a DVD in September featuring children in foster care on the Border in a bid to boost interest from potential carers.
The issue was also on the Victorian government’s agenda with $5.6 million committed to an Australia-first trial of “professional” foster carers in the south of the state.
Professionalised foster carers will work with at least 28 children over two years, helping them to transition from – or avoid entering – residential care.
Ms Roberts said carers on the Border came from all walks of life and had options about what kind of care they wanted to provide.
“We have single male carers, single female carers, families, couples with no children and same-sex couples,” she said.
“That gives us options when it comes to matching – some children do better in homes where there are no other children, some benefit from family environments.
“We try to do what’s best for each child. Some carers want to do good in the world, others just enjoy children, but the bottom line is they are community-minded people who see value in investing in children for the future.”
Anyone interested in becoming a foster carer is urged to call (02) 6055 8000.
