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Launceston family services organisation Glenhaven has started one of its many recruitment drives.
As part of the drive, a sign has been placed outside a property at Riverside.
Glenhaven offers temporary care services and long-term care options for vulnerable children.
Glenhaven Northern coordinator Pene Daniel said the demand for foster care was so high the service was struggling to keep up.
“We are getting referrals daily,” she said.
“Ideally we’d like to be able to offer placements on a monthly basis but we are not able to do that now.”
Glenhaven Family Services began on the North-West but has since expanded, with offices at Kentish and Launceston.
Mrs Daniel said they found it much harder to recruit for foster carers in Launceston.
“Everyone is just so busy, I think when you’re talking about rural or semi-rural towns (like on the North-West) you might find one person is working in the home but in the bigger city both usually are,” she said.
However, Glenhaven wants to dispel some of the myths surrounding foster carers to try to encourage more people to sign up.
“People think that it’s full time but we work with the carer to find a solution that best fits their lifestyle,” Mrs Daniel said.
The commitment can be flexible and foster carers can come in many forms. Foster carers can also come in many forms, because there are a variety of children with different needs.
“We really want to encourage anyone who wants to be a foster carer to apply, we like to have a diversity of carers,” out of home care North team leader Rose Norgrove said.
“We have couples with children, single people, younger people, older people, same-sex couples, all types of people on our team.”
Mrs Norgrove said Glenhaven offered support for their foster carers before, during and after care.
Care services are both temporary and longer-term.
“Even though they (the foster carers) don’t work for us we feel and treat them like they are part of our team,” Mrs Norgrove said.
Anyone interested in becoming a foster carer phone 6343 7551 or go online.