By Lakhram Bhagirat
When one takes the decision to become a foster parent, they are committing to going all in. They are making an investment in the lives of the children who may come under their care. They are promising to love those children as they would their own and they are committing to providing the best possible quality of life.
Children in the system are more often broken and they need fixing. They need to be told that they are worthy of being cared for and worthy of all the love they will receive. Many of the children in the system are victims of their circumstances. They are abused, molested, abandoned, or orphaned.
With these heavy burdens, children in the system are crushed and quite often lash out at the people who care for them. One cannot blame the children for lashing out though, rather one can only work harder to ensure the internal battles are won.
Choosing to become a foster parent means choosing to be ever so patient. It means that you are making not only a physical investment but also an emotional one. You are, through your actions, saying that ‘I am here to love and care for you’.
Shenny Bastoo made that decision over a decade ago when she gave up her job at the Bosai Bauxite Plant in Linden to become a foster parent. To date, she has fostered six children and has now adopted one. She is always contacting the Child Care and Protection Agency’s regional offices asking for more children to foster.
For her, the ability to impart her values and ideals while healing a child’s broken spirit is the very task God ordained her to do.
The 36-year-old has no biological children, but she has been a mother to many over the years. She knows that it takes a village to raise a child as she has experienced it during her own childhood.
Bastoo grew up in the West Berbice village of Golden Fleece with love and family at the centre of her world. After growing up, she moved to the mining town of Linden, where she has spent 10 years. During that time, she entered into the foster care system as a foster parent.
She was entrusted with the well-being of six children. Five of those children have gone on to become adults while she has adopted the sixth who is now a primary school student.
“In my whole lifetime, I always loved children even though I don’t have any. I don’t have any and I am always nice to them. At first, I went to the (Child Care and Protection) Agency to adopt and I am in the process of adopting my first child, but before that, I had to be a foster parent. I started fostering since 2007 and I have loved every bit of it,” she notes.
For Bastoo, being a foster parent has come at a cost, but that means nothing in light of helping a suffering child who is in need.
“Being a foster parent is fun. I was able to know more and how to deal with kids and show them love and how to make them happy despite their circumstances. Because of me not having children, I stand as a mother for these children so whenever I have my own, I would have the experience on how to deal with my biological child. I would not love my biological child any different than how I am loving my foster children. They are all alike and I took them with a kind heart and open arms and I promised to love them ‘till the end and I am doing just that.”
The child who Bastoo is currently fostering has been with her since she was five months old. Bastoo and her husband are the only parents she has known. Thus far, the fact that she is being fostered until her adoption papers come through has been kept from her.
“Even if you are a single parent, you must try to take care of your children in spite of the situation. Do not give up on your children, because there are some foster parents fostering who would not treat the children the way they are supposed to and I have seen that for myself. So, I will advise them to stick with their children. It is not an easy task, but faith brought me through. I had to make sacrifices to be a good foster mother. I gave up my job and I don’t regret anything,” she said.
Bastoo is on the quest to ensure that all of Guyana’s children get the requisite care and love they deserve. She is making that happen by fostering one child at a time.
