Help us start a foster home Campaign
Good day to all the wonderful people of an amazing countryMy name is Chris. I live in the Eastern Cape, although I grew up in another part of SA. I have a dream that I'm hoping, with the help of fellow South Africans, will be able to come true.
I love children. I have always loved children and loved working with them. I've been fortunate enough to be given opportunity to work with them and blessed enough to have adopted the sweetest little boy you could ever imagine. I met my son while working at a place of safety for babies here in East London. At the time of writing this, the government has decided that all places of safety need to be closed down, and the children need to all go into foster homes.
I worked as a caregiver and took care of unwanted babies for a year. I have seen where these children come from and have seen the need for a place they can go while either waiting to be adopted or placed with a capable family member. I simply cannot and will not stand back and watch the abuse continue.
I would like to start a small foster home with the maximum capacity of 6 children. However, I am financially unable to. We live month to month, and as per law, I'm allowed to ask businesses to sponsor me, but they are not allowed to claim those funds back because I will not be able to register as an NGO/NPO because of the new movement taking place within Social Development.
This means that all funds toward the project need to be funded by people who are willing to give, without receiving anything back.
We need a fund boost to find a good property to rent and a few items such as cots, bed etc. By showing what we have put in, we will be able to get funding easier from local sources because we are already established.
Our aim is to house 6 babies/toddlers at a time. Once a child is places with a guardian and space opens for another, we will be able to give a home to another child. Legally, we are only allowed to house 6 foster children at a time. We then also want to help young fathers of the children learn how to bond and care for their children, and teach them that it's ok, and hopefully reuite them with their children. Our other aim is to help young parents to be learn how to care for their child and help counseling them into not giving their child up by hosting them for parenting classes.
At the moment, this is all just a pipe dream and perhaps in the future it could expand, but we are praying day and night that our dream to help these babies and show them how wanted they actually are can become a reality and that one day, they can go forward in life as adults and make a difference in the lives of others.
Thank you
Yours Sincerely
Chris Bennett-Sweetnam