What Are Foster Parents Not Allowed To Do?
Whether you are a battle hardened foster parent, or someone looking into foster parenting, one of the main things that come to mind is what are foster parents not allowed to do.
The Main Points About What Are Foster Parents Not Allowed To Do:
Altering the Child’s Appearance
You can’t pierce the child’s ears, cut their hair or perform any physical altering of the appearance of a foster child without permission as it can be seen as altering their identity.
Share Their Faces on Social Media
You unfortunately cannot share that amazing family snap of their faces on social media, other foster parents generally add emojis over the faces of the foster children. This is mainly to ensure the safety of the child, in case someone were to seek the child out.
Use Unapproved Babysitters
This one is a big negative and a very important point in what are foster parents not allowed to do, as it impacts the safety of the child. You can only use approved babysitters, unless it is for evening babysitting and the child is over a certain age then you are allowed to use reasonable judgement for an adult to babysit your foster child for up to 24 hours. If the babysitting is required for over 24 hours, you must get permission from the state, or the foster parents.
Refuse Vaccinations
If you don’t believe in vaccinations, you cannot refuse the foster child a vaccination regardless of your views, this goes for any and all jabs that are offered at any particular stage in life. It doesn’t matter what your personal choices are at this point, if you go against this then a judge will be appointed to rule against you.
Leave Them at Home
It goes without saying as the most important point of what foster parents are not allowed to do. You cannot leave your foster children at home without supervision if they are under 12, however if the child is over 12 you are allowed to leave them home for a brief period alone, for example a fast trip to a corner shop or to drop another child off at a child minders house.
Changing Their Name
Unfortunately even for the sake of safety, you cannot change the foster child’s name. For those of you who want to increase the safety aspect of fostering and help hide the identities of some of the children, consider nicknames to mitigate the risks of this. We understand the parents may be good, they may be bad, and they may also have family in the area too.
Allow Them To Take Part In Certain Activities
You need to consult the fostering agency or state if you wish your foster child to be part in activities that may cause attachment, and can be one of the most frustrating questions about what are foster parents not allowed to do. This is because they will likely not be able to continue the activity in the future when they leave your home and either join another family or back to their family. You will need permission from the biological parents and/ or state authorities before you can give them access to any extra curricular activities. It is always good to find out whether you are going to be fostering the child long term, and make sure the activity
There are still plenty of things you can do that don’t feature in my list about what are foster parents not allowed to do, have a look at some of my other articles about family activities here.
Conclusion
To conclude my post about what are foster parents not allowed to do, foster parenting has many unique rules that you need to keep a look out for, whilst also putting all of your effort into maximizing the amazing quality family time you have with your foster child.
These rules are safeguarding procedures to stop danger coming to your foster child, but don’t worry about all of the rules around it as they’re easy to avoid, and foster parenting is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. Have a look at some of the reasons why it is so rewarding here.
If you want to start your fostering journey, have a look here.
Thank you so much for reading my post about what are foster parents not allowed to do, I really do hope you enjoyed the post and if you want to see some other parenting and family content please don’t hesitate to have a look around the rest of my blog.
