Male foster carers should be celebrated as vital role models for children in care, many of whom have had negative experiences of men, the Fostering Network Wales will say this week.
At the charity’s Men in Foster Care conference in south Wales on Monday 17 March, chair Jim Bond will highlight the need for more men to become foster carers, because of the valuable and positive relationship they offer to some of society’s most vulnerable children.
Male foster carers can give children, especially boys, the opportunity to explore issues about their birth father and have contact with men who understand their needs. They can act as role models giving foster children their first positive close daily contact with men.
However, according to recent research, men are failing to come forward to work with children because they are frightened of being labelled paedophiles. This, along with the lack of male teachers in nurseries and primary schools, means that many children and young people will never have a positive male role model.
Foster carer Joe Griffiths from Caerphilly said: "As a foster carer I want to offer a child the chance to experience an ordinary family life. I know that I have been the first positive male role model in the lives of some of the children we have looked after. Seeing young people grow and thrive and knowing that I played a role in that is very rewarding."
The Fostering Network’s chair Jim Bond said: “Foster care has traditionally been viewed as a task undertaken by women, and although times have changed, this still appears to be the public perception.
“But the reality is that men have much to offer as foster carers, and can provide the positive role model that some of these vulnerable children have never had. We want to encourage more men to come forward, and to reassure them that they have a crucial role to play, either as sole carers or as half of a fostering couple.”
For more information contact 020 7620 6441/37 or media@fostering.net.