More foster parents are needed to offer children a safe space while the Department of Child and Family Services works to reunify them with their biological families.

Although the number of foster children has declined, families are having to double up and take in more than one child, according to foster care co-ordinator Selena Simons.

“There are no more extra spaces right now,” she told The Royal Gazette. “We need more people to come on board.

“Because we are the Bermuda Government-mandated agency for child protection, we are supposed to be able to provide a response immediately if there is a child in need of a placement.”

She added that the closure of the Sunshine League had also impacted their ability to accommodate children, especially siblings.

“It’s very, very difficult to keep siblings together in foster families because people generally have space for one.”

Compared to a couple of years ago when most foster children were under five, the majority of the 68 children now in foster care are between five and ten.

Ms Simons put this down to children being referred by teachers, who have a better understanding of what to look out for. But she added that there is also a greater push to preserve the family unit when it to comes the younger children, with workers plugging “in services in the home to try and keep the young ones with their family because removal can be very traumatic”. She also noted that the children coming in now have more complex needs, perhaps requiring learning support, speech therapy or additional services that work on the child’s development.

And while some of the children have other difficulties, she stressed these are more to do with their emotions and past experiences.

“A lot of these children have had things happen to them, therefore trust is broken. If they are able to emotionally build up trust again and engage in a really positive relationship and the bonding and attachment can occur with the foster family, you’ll have a successful placement.”

Ms Simons added that the end goal of a foster placement is always to reunify the children with their birth family.

“The idea is that services and treatment would be put in place with the birth parents and birth family so that they can get back to a point of functioning to have their children reunified with them.”

But because of the complex issues often involved, it is difficult to put a time frame on the process, with placements lasting from a few months to years.

There is a rigorous application process, with potential foster parents educated about the programme and requiring to provide documents showing they are suitable. The Department of Health and the foster care co-ordinator then inspect the home and meet with all the family members. Once approved, the families are contacted when needed.

But Ms Simons said applicants often don’t follow through with the process because they did not have an accurate understanding of what foster care involves or mistake it for adoption.

She said: “Every child that’s in foster care has a social worker and a social worker assistant. Those two people play a vital role in supporting the foster placement.”

They attend the home regularly and the Department works closely with Family Court, regularly reporting the progress of the child.

“There’s also an expectation for us to be continually working with the birth parents to gauge progress. That is sometimes a bit of a deterrent.”

But she added that the general public is also perhaps not aware of how much support they offer.

“The child is connected to lots of services, so if they need counselling, they’re connected to a therapist. If they want to engage in an extracurricular activity, dance, music, sports, we arrange that just so that their life has a balance.

“It is our responsibility to provide for that child, so that the foster families do not have to come out of pocket — it does not have to be a debt for them.”

Families get a monthly stipend for food and toiletries, and four clothing allowances per year. But Ms Simons stressed that the Department has a budget and some expenses are outside of its scope. She added that they work closely with the Foster Parents Association, which pitches in where it can to assist.