What it's like to be a foster parent?

In April SOS Children's Villages Bulgaria organized a campaign to attract people to become foster parents in Sofia and for SOS Children's Village Tryavna. Gergana Vidinova, Head of the Foster Care Center, SOS Children's Village Sofia-Pernik Program, tells us what is actually hidden behind the phrase "foster parent", is it a job or is it a calling and what are the qualities a foster parent should possess and embody.

What is it like to be a foster parent? Is it really a profession or is it actually the life choice to help someone?

To be a foster parent is to take in a child and give them everything that a caring parent gives to their own child. Yes, it is a profession, but it is also a life choice at the same time. A profession because you must have knowledge about child development, about trauma and suffering, you have to have the skills to guide the child on the path of healing from the trauma experienced and to discover and support their strengths.

It is a profession because you have to put the best interest of the child before your feelings and emotions and prepare the child to be adopted or to return to their biological family, to have the strength to love them as they are and to help the parents care for them and love them as you have. It is a profession because you are supported by a team of professionals and together with them you provide a full environment and living conditions for a child or children who are separated from their parents. But this profession is impossible to fulfil if it is not also your calling.

What are the qualities and virtues a person must possess in order to be a foster parent?

The same qualities that make you a good parent! How to be a good parent? It is a thing we are constantly learning together with our children. Yet it is important to be able to hear and understand the child even when they are playing and not talking, it is important to be by their side and accompany them, even if you are not in close by. It is important to love the child and that the love you give them is unconditional. And last but not least, to be ready to let go and give them back to their family, be it birth or adoptive.

How to become a foster parent – what is the usual procedure?

First, the desire to be a foster parent should be registered with the Child Protection Department or the Foster Care Center. Then, with the help of a team of professionals, a process of assessment and training is completed to ensure that the person meets the requirements and can cope with them. Then we proceed with an entry in the Register of Foster Parents. This completes the procedure and the person is now officially a foster parent and can look forward to welcoming their foster child.

Is there enough interest from foster families in Bulgaria?

There is interest in foster care, there are more than 2000 foster families in Bulgaria, with 1500 children currently being taken care of. But oster parents and families will be enough when every child in need can be placed in a foster family and not in residential care, which is now the case in the Family Type Placement Centers, where a group of children - 12-15 or more - is looked after by a team of specialists working in shifts. At the moment there are more than 3 000 children in Bulgaria in Family type placement center.

Those interested in becoming foster parents can contact Gergana Vidinova, Head of the SOS Foster Care Center in Sofia – 0893 514913, [email protected].

Foster parents can be families, partners or independent applicants who want to raise foster children and offer the service "foster care" in their own homes in Sofia or in single-family houses in SOS Children's Village Tryavna.

SOS Children's Villages Bulgaria offers foster parents:

• Initial and periodic support training;
• Consulting, support and supervision (individual and group);
• Assistance from qualified family helpers (babysitters);
• Material support to prepare the space in the home for the welcoming of a child;
• Additional monthly material support for the successful development of the children placed in the foster family;
• Services for children placed in foster families, supporting children's full development through Foster Care Center and Community Support Center – pedagogical counseling and support, psychological and psychotherapeutic support, group and individual work, vocational guidance and counseling, etc.