One Chance At Childhood
Is it just me or does everyone think that every single child deserves a fair crack at life?
There is a new report out today claiming that 14 000 children in Australia regularly witness their parents using drugs in the home.
It comes with a Queensland state government announcement yesterday, “One chance at childhood.”
The Beattie government has committed 12 million dollars to assist parents with children in the child protection system to get back on their feet.
The flip side of the announcement though – is the promise that the government is getting tougher. If biological parents don’t get their act together – they will lose their kids.
And that leads me to a little story. As you probably know (because I bang on about it all the time), I am patron of IFYS a Sunshine Coast Foster Care Organisation.
A really good friend of mine, one of the most inspiring women I have ever met – who I can’t name for obviously reasons - is a foster carer.
She recently began caring for three new babies, a three year old, a two year old and a tiny baby – about five or six months old.
The kids were brought to my friend by the police, in the middle of the night.
The baby, who is absolutely gorgeous, has a slightly mis-shapen head, it is completely flat at the back. When this little boy was dropped off to my friend he had an umbilical hernia about the size of an apple.
The reason for his flattened skull and painful hernia? He lay screaming in his cot from the day he got home from hospital until the day he was taken into protective care. No body ever picked him up.
The parents of these children are apparently speed addicts.
Their three year old daughter, when she arrived at my friend’s house, acted like an adult. She considered herself responsible for both her siblings. My friend says for the first couple of weeks in foster care, this gorgeous three year old girl sat quietly beside her brother all day, never allowing anyone to feed him a bottle unless she checked it first, insisting she be the one to change his nappy. If anyone spoke to her two year old sister, this little mother would move quietly in front of her sibling, a silent but determined body guard.
My friend says the kids are getting better, starting to play and have fun. The baby’s hernia is almost gone, in fact my friend proudly claims he has quite a cute little ‘outie’ belly button.
Will the government ever return these damaged little babies to their parents? Probably.
But that’s another story, and hopefully Premier Beattie’s ‘One Chance at Childhood’ initiative will do what it promises.
In the mean time, if you want to find out more about Foster Care on the Sunshine Coast, phone IFYS 5438 8000. www.ifys.com.au
There is a new report out today claiming that 14 000 children in Australia regularly witness their parents using drugs in the home.
It comes with a Queensland state government announcement yesterday, “One chance at childhood.”
The Beattie government has committed 12 million dollars to assist parents with children in the child protection system to get back on their feet.
The flip side of the announcement though – is the promise that the government is getting tougher. If biological parents don’t get their act together – they will lose their kids.
And that leads me to a little story. As you probably know (because I bang on about it all the time), I am patron of IFYS a Sunshine Coast Foster Care Organisation.
A really good friend of mine, one of the most inspiring women I have ever met – who I can’t name for obviously reasons - is a foster carer.
She recently began caring for three new babies, a three year old, a two year old and a tiny baby – about five or six months old.
The kids were brought to my friend by the police, in the middle of the night.
The baby, who is absolutely gorgeous, has a slightly mis-shapen head, it is completely flat at the back. When this little boy was dropped off to my friend he had an umbilical hernia about the size of an apple.
The reason for his flattened skull and painful hernia? He lay screaming in his cot from the day he got home from hospital until the day he was taken into protective care. No body ever picked him up.
The parents of these children are apparently speed addicts.
Their three year old daughter, when she arrived at my friend’s house, acted like an adult. She considered herself responsible for both her siblings. My friend says for the first couple of weeks in foster care, this gorgeous three year old girl sat quietly beside her brother all day, never allowing anyone to feed him a bottle unless she checked it first, insisting she be the one to change his nappy. If anyone spoke to her two year old sister, this little mother would move quietly in front of her sibling, a silent but determined body guard.
My friend says the kids are getting better, starting to play and have fun. The baby’s hernia is almost gone, in fact my friend proudly claims he has quite a cute little ‘outie’ belly button.
Will the government ever return these damaged little babies to their parents? Probably.
But that’s another story, and hopefully Premier Beattie’s ‘One Chance at Childhood’ initiative will do what it promises.
In the mean time, if you want to find out more about Foster Care on the Sunshine Coast, phone IFYS 5438 8000. www.ifys.com.au
