Marymound looking for treatment foster parents throughout the province

The Marymound building seen on July 15, 2022. (Source: Jamie Dowsett/CTV News)

A Manitoba program that provides a variety of services for vulnerable youth is calling for more foster parents to help its program.

Marymound has put a call out to Manitobans to see if they would be willing to join.

"We're looking for treatment foster parents to care for our youth from the age of basically newborn to 17 plus," said Susan Tennenhouse – program manager for treatment foster care.

"These are youth that need a sense of belonging, to be able to be a part of a community, part of a family. It's also important that foster parents are able to nurture and develop with them."

She said the call for more foster parents isn't being made due to shortage concerns, but instead they are just looking to grow and rebuild. However, she did note some people have retired from the program following the pandemic.

"It's really important our children and youth in the province have therapeutic homes to grow and develop to the best of their potential."

Currently, Tennenhouse said they are looking for individuals, couples or families to sign up for the program, adding they aren't trying to reach any specific target for the number of people joining.

"Our youth and children have high needs. They may have medical needs, they might have attachment issues, there might have been abuse issues, cognitive delays, we look at the gambit."

She said a lot of support is provided to foster parents, from bi-weekly meetings and monthly meetings with the kids to a 24/7 on-call number that parents can reach.

Tennenhouse said they are looking for foster parents in Winnipeg, the surrounding area of the city, Brandon and Thompson.

For those who might be interested, more information can be found online.