Church bulletins, posters used in foster-family search

Social services officials in central Newfoundland are trying a range of tactics, from newspaper ads to putting up posters, to solve an acute shortage of foster parents.

There are only 35 foster families in the central region of the island, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Foster Family Association says none of them are in Grand Falls-Windsor, the largest town.

Executive director Diane Molloy said that shortage means children must be moved to another town, which can have a substantial impact.

"If a child can't remain in their home community, it not only means that they're moving away from their family on a temporary basis, they're also leaving behind they're friends, their school. 

"It leads to many other changes on top of the trauma that's already been experienced by being away from your parents."

The shortage of foster families has been a province-wide problem, and social services officials have on dozens of occasions hired personal-care companies to care for children in motels and housekeeping units.

Dorothy Dormody, the director of child, youth and family services with Central Health, said word of mouth tends to be most effective in finding foster families, although the regional authority is trying many other recruitment methods.

"We've put some things in church bulletins, we've held basically open forums in the past, inviting people to come just to hear an information session [and] we put posters in the community," she said.

The number of children in care in the region recently hit 60 — the highest in more than a decade.