Calgary Journal Online

Children in foster care are being given the opportunity to reunite with their biological parents thanks to a pilot project from Aspen Calgary, a family service agency.

The Foster Care Family Reunification Project went into effect last year. Tom Baker, a manager with Aspen Calgary, said that, from the feedback he has received so far, it “certainly has been a success.”

Baker said the project aims to help biological parents be reunited with their children as soon as possible.

He said the program asks foster parents to work with and mentor biological parents to strengthen their bonds with the children. This gives biological parents a chance to develop and improve their parenting skills.

He said there are also support workers available to work with families who have to deal with poverty or addiction issues.

Right now, the project is funded yearly, and Baker said it is reviewed on a regular basis.

“We’re hoping to improve, essentially, who’s appropriate for the program,” he said.

There are more than 76,000 children and youth in foster care in Canada, according to a 2002 report from Child and Family Services.

Aspen’s website said that it has the largest non-government foster care program in Calgary. It has more than 40 foster homes operating throughout Calgary, and foster parents with Aspen receive more than 130 hours of training each year.

One of these foster parents is Dianne Hansen, who has been with Aspen for three years and currently has three children in her care.

Hansen has three of her own children, who are grown. She said that she wanted to be a foster parent for a while, but was never in a financial position to do so. When her children grew up and left home, Hansen went to Saudi Arabia to work as a nurse manager. When she came back, she had saved enough money to take on a foster parenting role.

Hansen has been involved with the Family Reunification Project. Although none of the children she currently cares for are involved with the project, she said that, in the past, she enjoyed being a part of it.

She said that the project allowed her to connect with the children’s biological parents, which made it easier when the children left her care to go back home.

Hansen has cared for about 12 children in total, including two teen mothers and their babies. She said two of the children have left her care to go to another foster home or a group home, but most leave because they turn 18 or are returning home to their biological parents.

She said the hardest part about being a foster parent could be summed up in three words: “when they leave.”

“You absolutely get very attached,” Hansen said. “And you always wonder how they’re doing (afterwards).”

Hansen said that when children leave her care, she gives them a memory book – a scrapbook of pictures from their time in her home.

“It’s a book of memories both for the parents and for the children,” Hansen said. “So they know the time hasn’t been lost.”

Hansen said that seeing the children blossom is the most rewarding part of being a foster parent.

“I give (the kids) a lot of love, and I get a lot too,” she said.