FAQ

There can be. If you need to be temporarily absent — to attend a training course, a court hearing, or to take a break from caring for a child with extraordinary needs — extra funding may be available for child minders during your absence (distinct from the regular child minding already in the family care rate) or for homemaker services where the need is more substantial. In exceptional cases, home support may continue on an ongoing basis to help sustain a placement.

Your resource social worker can advise on what’s available in your area and whether your circumstances qualify.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

The family care rate already covers regular camp fees up to the equivalent of the per-diem family care rate. When a summer camp or similar residential programme charges a per-diem rate higher than that, the difference between the per-diem camp fee and the family care rate can be paid as a one-time-only exceptional payment.

Camp registration also needs authorisation from the child’s social worker — and approval from the child’s parents if they retain guardianship — so discuss the request with the child’s social worker and your resource social worker before confirming the booking.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Yes. BCFPA advocates for foster caregivers and will help you sort through a difficult situation — whether it’s a placement decision, access arrangements, concerns about a social worker, or a decision to close a home. You do not have to be a BCFPA member to ask for advocacy help.

Reach BCFPA through the Fosterline to talk it through. Your resource social worker can also help, and on Vancouver Island your CFS Area Coordinator is another route for support and referral.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Yes. BCFPA offers comprehensive dental and extended health plans to current members and their families. To purchase these plans you need a valid BCFPA membership, which is verified before the policy is delivered.

Note that life insurance, segregated funds, disability insurance, and critical illness insurance offered through other channels are separate and not tied to BCFPA membership. For details on the health and dental plans, contact BCFPA.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

PRIDE Pre-Service is a 33–35 hour online programme you complete during the application process, before you’re approved. It helps you understand what fostering involves and helps both you and the ministry decide whether it’s a good fit.

PRIDE In-Service is a 50–55 hour online programme you complete after approval, over a 40-week period. It’s required of all approved caregivers and is made up of nine core modules plus two supplemental modules. Best practice is to finish In-Service within your first year of caregiving. To register, contact your resource social worker.

Sources: Foster Family Handbook; Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

You can reach the Safe Babies team directly:

• South Island & Regional Safe Babies Coordinator: 778-430-5459 (sicoord@fpsss.com)
• Safe Babies Coordinator: 250-703-6135 (safebabies@fpsss.com)
• CFS Regional Office: 1-888-922-8437 (admin@fpsss.com)

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Beyond your mandatory PRIDE training, CFS runs ongoing workshops so you can keep building skill and stay current with ministry policy. Past topics have included trauma-informed care, neurodiversity, attachment, self-care, grief and separation, FASD, managing difficult and disruptive behaviours, working with biological families, and transitions in and out of care. Workshops are usually free and led by specialist presenters, and you receive a Certificate of Attendance for each. Register through your Area Coordinator, who keeps the schedule for your area.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Yes. CFS gives you a Certificate of Attendance for each workshop, showing the topic, the presenter, and the duration. Keep these in a dedicated file alongside your PRIDE records and any specialist training (Safe Babies, Level 2/3, and so on). Your resource social worker tracks your ongoing training as part of your learning plan and will ask about it at your annual home review.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

Yes. If there’s a topic you’d like a workshop on, tell your Area Coordinator — suggestions are taken seriously and help shape future training. CFS also includes a feedback form with every workshop, and that feedback decides which sessions are repeated and which new topics are added.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide

If day care is part of a child’s Plan of Care and the cost is more than the available day care subsidy, you can ask for the shortfall to be assessed for an exceptional payment — either a one-time payment or an ongoing one if the cost is a continuing part of the care plan. Day care needed while you attend caregiver training may also qualify. Start the request with your resource social worker, who assesses it and forwards it to the director.

Source: Foster Caregiver Orientation Guide