Fostering project sees 59 children go to Emirati families

Emirati families across the country have fostered 59 children, both boys and girls, as part of a new project.

The Family Fostering scheme is being conducted by Dar Zayed House for Family Care, an affiliate of the Zayed Higher Foundation for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs, and is helping to get more people interested in fostering children.

A further 17 fostering applications for four children are under review.

As reported in The National’s Arabic sister paper, Al Ittihad, yesterday, the director general of Zayed House for Family Care, Salem Al Kaabi, said that through its various projects, the institution seeks to create a family ambience in a way that ensures children’s security and provides a suitable environment for them.

He explained that since the start of the project, Dar Zayed had rejected 60 applications, as applicants did not fulfil the psychiatric interviews and tests. Another 80 applicants did not meet the fostering requirements.

Mr Al Kaabi noted that applications filed at Dar Zayed outnumber the children available for fostering.

He added that foster families were chosen by a special committee and according to a set of criteria.

The head of Family Fostering at Dar Zayed, Khawla Hamad Ali Al Badi, said that out of the 59 children that had been fostered since the start of the project, 32 were in Abu Dhabi, 15 in Al Ain, six in Dubai, three in Ras Al Khaimah, and one each in Sharjah, Fujairah and Ajman.

Fostering is restricted to Emirati families of good social and moral standing who are capable of providing the required care for children.

Children who have been abandoned in the UAE are given Emirati nationality.

newsdesk@thenational.ae