‘Being a Foster parent is rewarding’ – Foster Mother

By Bibi Khatoon

Being a foster parent is challenging but for 41-year-old Melrose George it is something which brings her joy to “make an impact on the life of a child.”

During an interview at News Room, Melrose was asked how she became a foster parent.

“I saw the ads running for foster care, they were asking persons to share their home with a child or two and I decided because I always liked children.”

Melrose has been working with the Child Care and Protection Agency over the past four years and took up the responsibility for the first two children in December 2013, just one day before Christmas Eve.

“I signed up for one but I got two,” she said smiling. The brother and sister were ages, four and six at the time and lived with her for two years before they returned to their family.

“Then I had a 3-month-old baby girl, she spent close to six months with me then she went away and presently I have a 2-year-old with me.”

Melrose has three children of her own between the ages of 19 to 24. She admitted that it is a challenging task taking care of her own and her foster children, but noted she is happy that they treated each other as siblings.

“You have to like children. You have to like dealing with children to get into it. Tell yourself that you are getting into it to make a difference in a child’s or children’s life cause that’s how I look at it. If I can make a difference in one or two children’s lives, it makes me feel good.”

Unlike adoption, Foster Care seeks to provide a home for children who have to be removed from their parents for a short period of time- until they can be returned.

Recently, Director of the CCPA, Ann Greene explained that the first resort is to relocate children to the home of relatives, however, if that is unavailable, then they can be fostered by others who are proven to be eligible for such responsibilities. She noted that it is last resort to have them placed in Children homes.

The Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) is currently observing Foster Care Month and is encouraging persons to foster a child under the theme “Invest in the life of a Child, become a mentor or foster parent today.”