MEET
SANDRA
“WHEN I CHANGE A DIAPER, I DO IT WITH LOVE. WHEN I GIVE FOOD, I DO IT WITH LOVE.”
Sandra has always loved taking care of children. “It’s always, always been a vocation. I do it from my heart.” With her own children having grown up, she decided to train as a technician in Early Child Care, but just as she was ready to take on her first job at a kindergarten, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived and disrupted her plans. That’s when she came across Michín’s Foster Care Programme, supported by Lumos, where foster families are recruited, trained and supported to look after children who have been separated from their birth families.
Sandra’s oldest daughter gave her the final encouragement she needed. She said it hurt her to think about the situations such children experienced, living through things they were not supposed to. “Come on mommy, let’s do it,” she said. “Let’s give love to those children and try to raise them as you raised us.”
Sandra currently has three children in her care. Juliana* is two months old, David* is one year old and Mariana* is six years old. It’s a busy household, but Sandra works hard to keep all three active and stimulated. “Sometimes we go to the pool, sometimes we play with toys or exercise. We go to a park, to a shopping mall, or just for a walk around the neighbourhood.”
Despite it being a temporary foster home while preparations are made for the child to safely be reunited with their birth family, important bonds are created.
“FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND BEAUTIFUL THING THERE IS,” SANDRA SAYS. “EVEN IF THEY ARE LIVING SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THEIR HOME, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT CHILDREN DO NOT LOSE THAT FEELING OF BELONGING TO A FAMILY, OF FEELING AT HOME.”
Sandra receives constant support, whether through formal training or just help with the daily logistics of making medical appointments. Lumos’s support, she says, “allows us to improve the quality of the work we do […] it means that each family has the financial and emotional resources to care for the children properly.”
Although it’s hard work, Sandra would encourage others to become a foster parent. “It’s rewarding knowing that you made a difference in their life at a time when they needed the warmth of a home.” For her personally, it’s important that the children who pass through her care leave knowing something new. “One girl I looked after could not stand the sight of vegetables – not even in cartoons. Now they are her favourite food! That’s when I say that the job was well done. Knowing that the children leave my care eating vegetables, making their own beds or putting away their clothes makes me happy.”
And it is not only Sandra’s lessons that make a lasting impression. “I say this with great certainty: of the 23 children who have passed through me care, each one left me something special.”
It is always hard saying goodbye, but both Sandra and the children are fully supported by a psychologist throughout the process.
*Names changed to protect identities.
