Fostering Tea Session (Joseph Gan)

 

23 Nov 2018 - First ever CBD fostering intro lunch in collaboration with Epworth Community Services for Foster Care Week!

Joseph Gan, our HFG foster parent is also a co-founder and president of a cyber-security startup. We are excited to have a foster father sharing as they play such an important role. We have been amazed by the transformation of their foster child, Jason (not his real name)! Foster parents come from all walks of life and Joseph's sharing also shows how busy professionals can also step up to foster!

Joseph and Li Ping, his wife, started fostering 3 years ago. They have seen personally what research also showed - that children really do grow better in foster families than children’s homes! Fostering allows vulnerable children to grow in many ways through having closer and more secure relationships in family settings.
They saw Jason bloom over time. Jason came as very fearful 9yo boy. They patiently took a step by step approach in caring for him with realistic expectations. For the first 6 months, they had to focus on helping Jason overcome his trauma and establish routine. Then for the next 6 months they moved on to help him learn to follow instructions and he was eventually able to achieve this 90% of the time! This helped him to better thrive in the structure of school. As parents, they applied the same house rules for their 3 children to their foster child (such as “obey first time”). They made it a point to do special things such as family dinners to ensure that Jason felt loved and as much a part of the family as their own kids.
Fostering can have its challenges. For the Gans, this included Joseph and Li Ping's tight schedules, having to juggle tasks like ferrying child around (in this case, the child’s school was far away). Having a community was an important support for the Gans in their fostering journey. Aside from Home for Good, they also had their church cell group as well as respite carers who help to care for Jason whenever Joseph and Li Ping needed to be away.
All that said, Joseph found that it was heart warming to see the emotional bonds grow when they added a foster child to a family. Fostering is such a meaningful way to contribute positively to the life of child.

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