On the lookout for foster carers

By Tania Martin
WESLEY Youth Care Services Eastern has highlighted the need for more foster carers in the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
The service is looking for people interested in foster care to look after adolescence from across the shire between the age of 12 and 18.
Wesley Youth Care Services, marketing, recruitment and support coordinator, Liz Alexander said the number of adolescents without a place to call home had increased over the past six years.
Ms Alexander said the ability to find alternative homes for these young people had also become more difficult.
She said carers can come from all walks of life from single people, single parents, and couples, to retired people.
Ms Alexander said Wesley Youth Care Service was looking for both shortterm and longterm carers.
She said shortterm carers can provide respite for fulltime foster carers when they need a break or wish to go on a holiday.
Ms Alexander said there was a real need for carers from across the shire as it was important to keep the adolescents in the living area that they feel comfortable in.
“When young people feel particularly connected to an area where they have grown up or have friends in, we aim to keep them in that area,” she said.
People who take on the role of a foster carer will receive a tax free reimbursement for the cost incurred of taking care of a young person.
Ms Alexander said interested carers must firstly have a police check done which would be followed by an eightweek assessment and training program.
Anyone interested in getting involved with the foster care program for Wesley Youth Care Services Eastern should contact Liz Alexander on 9871 5333.