When there is the birth of a baby in a family, the community support response can be wonderful. Baby showers happen, where presents are given of nappies, clothes, bottles and the overwhelming offer of advice. People organise rosters to drop around meals, friends offer to do laundry if needed. Neighbours might mow the lawn or do some gardening as a gift of love to the family and the new addition. When I had my children, my precious Mum hired a house cleaner for 6 weeks for me as a gift and visited to burp a baby while I grabbed some much-needed shut-eye.
Compare this described welcome to a new family member, to that of a fostering family. Fostering families have a similar time frame for settling in a new child to the family regardless of the child’s age. In fact, in attachment studies, it is often quoted that for as long as the child has been without you, that is how long it will take for the child to learn to live with you. Surprising isn’t it?!
Settling in a new baby means nights without sleep, upset to routines, and managing any re-flux or medical conditions. For fostering families add-in, resentment from the child in care, home visits from the local child safety authorities, foster care provider visits, and contact visits with biological parents. For families balancing all of this, life can be stressful and tiring. This is where the idea of One Act takes the pressure off!
One Act is the idea of foster parents, that people can volunteer their time to do one act for a family. You don’t need fantastic credentials or degrees. Your one act could be one of the following,
- Cooking a dish
- Babysitting while a carer goes to an appointment
- Mowing a lawn
- Carpooling
- Doing some laundry
- Picking up some groceries and dropping them to a family
- Tutoring homework
- Donation of children’s clothes for fostering families
The list goes on…
If this idea appeals to you, please contact us via the Contact Page and let us know that you are interested in registering for One Act. It can be a once off act or a regular donation of time.
Donations to help the settling process of a new child. The donation will be given in the form of a Coles/Woolworths Voucher to buy the family a meal, alternatively, we can book a lawn mowing company to help with practical house yard chores. Contact us if you want to stipulate what the donation is for.
Hope to hear from you soon!
