Who can do this?

A great foster parent is a person who can put themselves in somebody else's shoes and truly care about the well being of the child in their home. Also, being a foster parent requires a tremendous amount of consideration as it is a lifestyle altering choice. Opening your home to a child with special needs is a long term commitment which can sometimes be very emotional. Taking that into consideration, the vast majority of people who become foster parents have stayed with it.


What is required?

Because children through Annie's Havens have moderate to high special needs (autism, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.) we ask that anybody who wants to be a foster parent with us have experience caring for individuals who have such disorders/disabilities. Examples would be a nurse, a developmental service worker, someone who has a close family member with a disability, or even a hospital orderly - anyone who knows first hand what they will have to be dealing with. You absolutely must have a drivers license and a vehicle, a home with enough space, and be available throughout the day or have a spouse or partner who is. A bonus would be to have a wheelchair accessible home and/or a van.


Benefits of Annie's Havens

We will never try to place a child in your home that does not fit what you can handle. The foster parents who do not last long are the ones who have been given more than what they can deal with. Burning yourself out will help nobody. That is also the reason why we offer in-home staff support and respite days.

In-home staff support from Annie's Havens is great for a variety of reasons:

- We give a generous amount of hours
- You book the times that the staff will be in (works around YOUR schedule)
- YOU choose who you are comfortable with
- Unused hours can be "banked" for future use
- If you need more hours you can borrow from the next two months

Our respite program provides two days each month (which can also be banked and borrowed from) which means that you and your spouse can get away from the house and have some much deserved time to yourselves.
It is true that foster parenting is not for everybody but if you have thought about it and would like to know more please contact us and we'd love to talk to you!

What Fostering Isn't

Fostering children is not a money making career. You should only consider fostering if you are financially secure and understand that this is not a regular "job". It is a lifestyle choice. There is remuneration based upon the number of children in your home but this is not to serve as an income. When a child is placed in your home he or she should be treated just like any other member of the family and this includes day-to-day costs (which are covered under the per diem/"pay"). For example, driving a child to appointments is covered under the per diem, while extraordinary costs such as dental and prescription drugs are either covered or reimbursed. For more information it is best to inquire. After all is said and done, if you decide to foster it should come from your heart. Foster children require more love, more attention, more work, and definitely more effort than biological children. At the end of the day, however, seeing a child progress and meet his or her goals knowing that you were a big hand in it is the most compensation of all.

What We Are Not

Annie's Havens is a small agency that deals mostly with special needs children. Typically, most children without specific needs are placed in foster homes within a particular Children's Aid Society's homes. Annie's Havens responds to children that fall outside the "norm". We are not a large organization and do not act as such. Our plan is simple and straightforward, which is, we try to recruit the best possible foster homes to match the children who require our services. We are not large, which means we are not bureaucratic. If you need support, we are there. If there is a problem, we work hard to solve it. If there is a special situation we will pool our resources to help. Again, we are not a large organization, but we are a highly respected one.

Our Partners

We enjoy partnerships with Durham CAS, Toronto CAS, Toronto Catholic CAS, York CAS, Halton CAS, Halton Support Services, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, Hamilton CAS, Hastings CAS, Windsor-Essex CAS and Nunavut Social Services. Each CAS/Service Provider brings unique and diverse children to our agency and we thank each and every one of them for the opportunity to care for their children.

Contact Information

If you and your spouse feel that you would love to fill this desperate need in the child welfare sector, please, send us an email to recruitment@annieshavens.ca.

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