Dreama holds forum for foster families

The Orphan Care Centre (Dreama) has held the first forum for foster families with the participation of a large group of such families at Dreama.The forum aimed to identify how to inform the child of his/her status, exchange experiences and ascertain the reactions of children in foster families, Dreama said in a statement. The forum presented the most difficulties and the exchange of experiences in how to report and know the reactions of children, break the barrier of fear for mothers when reporting, and working to overcome difficulties and find proper solutions with a view to achieving family stability, the statement noted.Stressing the importance of the family fostering project, Dreama executive director Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser al-Missned said it aims to integrate the centre’s children into the community by living in alternative Qatari families capable of providing varied aspects of care for those lacking such care according to specific conditions. These families are responsible for the child’s care and education, she said, noting that the forum promotes efforts to upgrade the services offered by the centre to the orphaned child and train alternative foster families and specialists to support and develop the needs of the child to achieve the best standards for serving its orphaned children. Dreama is “keen to implement its vision on how to make its children have independent personalities and enable to interact with and integrate into society”. “This is in addition to making them self-reliant by bringing them up in line with our religion, culture and the society’s customs to become active persons serving themselves and their country,” she added.Dr Amani Yahya al-Taher, consultant psychiatrist at Dreama, explained that the project (Inform) is part of a plan for collective treatment of foster families. It comprises a number of individuals suffering from a similar problem where they are placed in a circular ring, and they get to know each other, identify the problem they suffer and how to deal with it in order to exchange their experiences and solutions.