One of the main reasons for this disparity is the concerns of potential surrogate parents. The research carried out by the company Simply 5 for the Sirius Foundation showed that more than half of the respondents are worried about the problematic nature of the child, or that they would not be able to take care of such a child.
Responses included phrases such as: “I’m afraid I’ll hurt him more than help him, that I’ll react badly!” or “What if we don’t bond enough and he doesn’t listen to me?!”
The second most common concern was the complicated administrative process before being entrusted with care. This concern was shared by more than 30 percent of the respondents.
“There are many false ideas surrounding foster care. Despite numerous campaigns, people do not, for example, know the differences between different forms of foster care,” said Dana Lipová, director of the Sirius Foundation, which is dedicated to helping disadvantaged children.
According to her, there are three forms today: In adoption, the child becomes a permanent member of the new family. In long-term foster care, the child grows up with foster parents, usually staying with them up to the age of 18 or even longer if, for example, he is studying. Foster parents do not legally replace the parents, but take care of the child as if it were their own.
Short-term or temporary fostering lasts a maximum of one year. It serves as a temporary solution until the child returns to the biological family or until an adoptive or long-term foster family is found.
Both long-term and temporary foster parents are entitled to a financial contribution to cover the child’s needs in the order of tens of thousands of crowns per month, as well as a reward that replaces the “salary” for caring for the child.
For those who don’t have their own children
The research also found that most people see surrogacy as “an avenue for those who cannot have a child of their own”. “Even those who desire parenthood only begin to consider foster care or adoption when all other options are definitively closed. They see it as an emergency solution and a confirmation of their own failure,” wrote the authors of the survey, Eliška Nováková and Kateřina Pulkrábková.
“Another frequent falsehood is that a long-term foster parent cannot choose the child he will care for,” recalled former substitute foster parent and social worker Bozena Kellerová. She was a foster carer for nine years, during which she took care of eleven children.
In practice, according to her, it works in such a way that suitable foster parents are selected for the children in the register. The current needs of the children are mainly taken into account and foster parents who are able to fulfill these needs are sought. However, this does not mean that one has to accept any child into long-term care. Foster parents always have the final say.
Fostering is a full-time job
It is different with temporary foster carers who are professional carers. They cannot refuse an offered child without a serious reason. “When they become temporary foster parents, they are entitled to a reward, but they must be prepared. If they are selected as the most suitable family, they must do everything to accept the child,” said Božena Kellerová.
Of course, this does not mean that they cannot perform normal jobs. “But the care of the child must come first. As long as they are caring and it allows them to do some kind of job, it is possible. They can, for example, do work from home. If they accept a child who attends school, they can work,” Keller gave examples.
“For example, I worked as a nurse and I was agreed that the moment my phone rang, I would interrupt my work,” she added.
More than five hundred respondents between the ages of 20 and 60 took part in the research, both foster parents and people who are thinking about surrogate parenting or have not yet thought about it.
