Belgium's foster care system is in "deep crisis" as there are currently 600 children with nowhere to go due to a lack of host families. An awareness campaign has now been launched to attract more.
The Federation for Support Services in Foster Care (FSAAF) and the Odile Foster Family Service, with the support of the French Community of Belgium (FWB), RTBF and CAP 48, are embarking on a three-week campaign to raise awareness about the shortage of foster families in Belgium.
Out of the 600 children without foster parents, some minors have even been forced to sleep in hospitals due to a lack of accommodation elsewhere.
"These vulnerable children, alone or with siblings, need a home to help them regain a sense of balance, and loving, caring support to help them grow up properly and create reliable, stable attachments for life," the organisations stated in a press release.
'Deep crisis'
Campaigners are calling on families to consider taking in foster children, with all information centralised on one website. There are short-term and long-term options available and organisations are keen to dispel any preconceived notions about taking in "troubled" children.
Chalk drawings written on the floor during a separate initiative by Pleegzorg Vlaanderen / Foster Care Flanders at Place des Martyrs in Brussels, Wednesday 10 July 2024. Credit: Belga / Charlotte van Oudenhove
"The children we take in are not delinquents," director of Henri Jaspart boarding school Antonio Frau told RTBF. "They are children who have suffered abuse at the hands of their parents, who are often overwhelmed."
Frau says fostering is intended as a stopgap until families can be reunited, and "if [children] were taken into care more quickly, the situation might be resolved more easily."
The foster system's difficulties are linked to severe court shortages. "The 14 French-speaking judges in Brussels alone handle between 3,500 and 4,000 cases every day," according to Michèle Meganck, a judge at the Brussels Juvenile Court.
"While there has always been a shortage of places, it has never been to the extent we have seen in recent years. Today, it takes an incredible amount of time for some children to get a place outside their family, when we know they should be out immediately."
