Your number one priority when fostering is providing a stable home for all children in your care. However, you can still increase your position financially by accepting extra work. After all, you’d likely work a few hours if you were only raising blood-related children. To successfully work from home, you must liaise with your agency and the foster child. Below, we’ve gathered together a series of tips to help you juggle fostering and home working successfully.
Communicate with Your Employer
If you are searching for a new job as a foster parent, we recommend discussing your home life from the beginning. If you’re the correct candidate for the job, any potential employer will attempt to find a resolution that works for you both, whether that be hybrid or fully remote work.
On the flip side, if you’re already at work and looking to enter the world of foster parenting, have an open discussion with your employer to find out what alterations can be made. Throughout this process, we recommend communicating with your chosen agency, like ISP Fostering, which will support you with the transition.
Speak with your Partner
Working from home will allow you to be more present with your foster children, but it is important to organize any work you do around your fostering commitments. The foster children in your care must always be a priority, so unless you have a partner willing to be the primary carer, you won’t be able to juggle the two.
Talk with your partner if you want to work from home, so you can both agree on who will be the primary carer for your foster children.
Networking with other Foster Parents
You may feel isolated at times, but you aren’t alone when it comes to working at home whilst in foster parenting. Look for support groups and training sessions held in your area by your fostering agency. Attending these is a great way to get to know other foster parents locally, which will help you build a reliable support network for practical advice and emotional support.
The Right Work Culture
Naturally, foster parenting is more suited to some working environments than others, so be sure to spend time investigating the wider company culture before making any commitments. For your job to work alongside fostering, it needs to agree with your home lifestyle. If you’re already working, and there doesn’t appear to be any leeway to accommodate fostering, it may be time to give it up and look elsewhere.
Proper Communication with Foster Children
Foster children must be at the center of everything you do, and it falls on you to provide stability. If you need to make any changes to existing routines, communicate them fully. Most importantly, you must make it clear that there will be plenty of quality time.
Working and fostering can go well together, but the job needs to complement your home life. The children in your care are the most important factor when figuring out a work-from-home situation, meaning you may need to sacrifice some career opportunities.
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