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6 Friday, July 29, 2016 Brooklin Town Crier Meet Your Local Merchant Powers Foster Homes Since 1987, Powers Foster Homes has provided loving and caring foster care to children with a history of abuse and neglect, from infancy to 18 years of age. Program Director Margaret Powers has an extensive academic and employment history, having worked with children and families in various hospitals, schools and residential treatment settings. After working as a social worker with Toronto C.C.A.S. in the early 1980s, she recognized a need for foster homes for children with special needs. As institutions closed, children were no longer being placed due to medical diagnoses and/or developmental physical disabilities. Powers Foster Homes was one of the first outside resources used by Children's Aid Society (C.A.S.) agencies. Initially it was for children with special needs then expanded to meet the placement needs of all children coming into C.A.S. care who were in need of foster care placements. Powers Foster Homes works with Children's Aid Societies to match an infant and/or child with a foster family that best meets the child's needs, reflecting and respecting the child's cultural, ethnic and religious background. Foster parents are the heart and soul of the foster care program and it is the dedication of Powers Foster Homes foster families that enables a foster child who has experienced trauma and/or neglect to grow and develop. Until a foster child returns to the natural family, every support and community resource is utilized to enable the foster placement to succeed in meeting the needs of the child and the foster family. When it is not possible to return the foster child to their family, Powers Foster Homes foster parents are an active participant in permanency planning for each child, such as kinship care and/or adoption. Interested in becoming a foster parent? Powers Foster Homes is looking for people who are loving, caring and have a sense of commitment and willingness to work with the C.A.S., support staff and the many professionals involved in the care of a foster child. Being a foster parent is a rewarding experience; those chosen play an invaluable role in the foster child's life. However, it requires tremendous self-sacrifice, exceptional patience, maturity and an ability to be accepting of the foster child's history while meeting the many challenges that come with that responsibility. Powers Foster Homes recognizes the crucial role our foster parents play as part of the foster care team. Extensive training and support are provided in consultation with a child and youth worker, consulting therapist, and various other community agencies and resources. To enable our foster parents to provide quality short and long term care to the foster children, Powers Foster Homes gives an excellent tax free per diem. Margaret Powers says the organization recently called Brooklin home after 18 years in Whitby. "There is such a warmth and strong semblance of family in Brooklin," she says, "and there was no hesitation when we thought about moving our office here." To learn more or if you are interested in this very rewarding yet challenging opportunity, please contact Margaret Powers at 905-425-8167 or by email at powersfosterhomes@rogers.com