SSI foster carers share their stories

[background music] video title: Strengthening children through culture: SSI Foster carers share their stories

THUY: my name is Thuy I am a Vietnamese foster carer. Altogether I had been in foster care about six years, and I look after about 20 foster kids.

NURTEN KUMRU: My name is Nurten Kumru. And I’ve been foster care since 2009. I’ll look after for the children, sometimes two kids, three kids, four kids.

IQBAL: My name is Iqbal [and] I got my three foster kids with me more than eight years [ago], eight and a half.

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TARIRO MAPFUMO, SSI Foster Carer Coordinator: Where possible SSI tries to match the culture religion or language so that the child can actually feel safe and can identify with the carer that they’ve been placed with.

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TARIRO: So a cultural care plan is sort of like a guide to formulate a guide on how to actually support the child to identify who they are. It’s really a collaborative work checking with the extended community, checking with the parents checking with the child; and caseworkers will do their own research.

IQBAL: And the identity very important for the child. [It] makes it easy for them to grow up not confused. They understand who they are, where they are from.

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TARIRO: Being a multicultural service provider we’e got carers from different cultural backgrounds; so we ensure that our training as well is provided in different languages.

NURTEN: There is a Turkish caseworker and I speak my language and they help me.

VIETNAMESE FOSTER CARER: Carol need help [a] Vietnamese case worker [I] have asked [for] came quickly and [they are] very polite; that’s the good thing.

IQBAL: like your own kids you have to deal with a good thing and with a bad thing and we have that the training every month and its really it’s helpful. They teach you how to deal with the difficulties with the behavior everything and its really it’s I benefit from the trailing with SSI a lot.

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FOSTER CARER: foster care is really, really good.

TARIRO: we’re trying to create a nurturing environment a healing process for the children. We want the child to love who they are as they grow older.

IQBAL: [It is] The best thing I ever done and I encourage everyone to do it, to look after these kids.

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