Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Veronica Harea,
Foster Carer, village of Bravicea of Calarasi District

"Fostering is not only about giving. The love and the gratitude of a child needing a family, are the few things one can get back!".

Since 2011, when Mr. and Mrs. Harea became foster family, in their house found love and care 7 children. Veronica and his husband decided to become foster carers being deeply impressed by the negative effects of migration, especially on those children, who were separated from their parents.

"Too many parents are leaving. Too many children are left behind, alone". – concluded Veronica. Couple’s wish was to stay in their own country, to work home, to raise their – and other’s children – at HOME.

At the present moment, together with the biological children – Ecaterina and Gheorghe – other 2 children can enjoy a family life; Mihai and Andrei (children’s names are changed) are brothers and were recently taken in care by this foster family.

The couple say they knew about the Foster Care Service from the community social assistant and from an acquaintance in the village that had engaged in fostering and was very happy for her choice.

When the two boys came into the family, the little one was only 1 year and 7 months.

"...Yet, he was very well-behaved. I’ve never thought I could take in care such a small child. The other children we fostered were from 7 to 10 years old. We wanted them to have the approximate age of our children, so they could share common interests and play together". – explained Mr. Harea

Mrs. Harea instead, confesses that it is rather difficult for her to get used with every child that enter their house – not because it overcomes her as a specialist, but because foster carers often miss to many details from the children’s past. The Foster Parent explains further that some children are more communicative and then it is easy to understand what are their expectations, what they like or don’t like, while with less communicative children some more efforts are needed to get closer to them.

As referring to these two children, Veronica admits that they got used easier with their new family and even from the beginning all of them felt comfortable with each other. Now they are feeling as family members and everybody can enjoy special moments as part of a family life.

"Even if the little one can’t talk yet, we get along together and understand very well each other. For now, I am the one talking – I try to explain him things, to show by gestures. Anyway, the most important right now is that we don’t have problems with eating. If he sees foot on the table, he never waits to be asked to eat" – says happily the foster parent.

Children also feel family’s warmth. During our visit, Andrei never left “mothers” lab, and Mihai told us he does his best to be a god boy, to study and to listen to those who, for now are their parents. Mihai spends also a lot of time in the company of his foster parents’ son, who became his best friend. The boys play together and practice sport.

Mrs. Harea told us that since Mihai came in the family, he is more sociable. The boy speaks openly about his feelings and expresses clearly about what he likes or doesn’t like. The foster parent sustains also that adults have a decisive role in children’s becoming, especially when they have such a responsible mission.

"When I can, I talk to my relatives and friends, and I advise them to take my example. There are some friends of mine here in the village, who listened to me and they never regretted. Still, there are localities where Foster Care Service rests unknown". When we asked Veronica what fostering means to her, she just smiled innocently, and remained silent, trying to find the words…

"… I don’t even know how to describe it… it is a big responsibility. It is not easy to take care of other people’s children… but once taken this commitment you can’t see the difference. You just take care equally of all the children in your house. Anyway, it’s good feeling of doing a good job" – answered Veronica, holding in her palms Andrei’s little feet.