| There
is no single profile. We have single parent families, widows
and widowers, retired people, young families, farmers, blue
collar, white colour, no colour workers, poor people, wealthy
people, …. Important is that the homes are caring, stable
and able to cope with stressful situations. Apart from that
a regular income is required and sufficient space to lodge one
or more guests. Of course, the children need to agree and people
need to be fully aware of what it means to live with a psychiatric
patient. Families do NOT receive training about psychiatric
illnesses. The secret of the success of family care lies in
the ordinary, non-therapeutisized, common sense approach.
In recognition of their commitment families receive a monthly
allowance of approximately 500 euro. This is significantly
cheaper than conventional hospital admission rates. In return
for their TLC, foster parents receive company, friendship
and a helping hand from their guests. In some cases roles
are eventually reversed: patients attend to their ageing foster
parents or look after the foster parents in difficult times
(death/illness of a partner..).
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