Providing a foster home helps a child in need, but ignoring safety measures around a pool can result in a destructive situation. Foster parents have a duty to protect the children they are caring for and pool safety is extremely important to avoid injuries and death. Although swimming can be a fun activity, foster children should be closely monitored for their own protection.
Foster Children
Foster parents are people who have acquired licensure to care for children in need of a temporary placement. Foster parents undergo background checks and training to ensure they are adequately prepared to care for a child. All children who enter foster homes have different levels of confidence around water. Foster parents should remember that not all children have the same swimming abilities.
Statistics
Drowning is the second leading cause of injury-related death among children younger than 14 years, according to the National Safe Kids Campaign. Drowning can occur with a lack of supervision if a child becomes submerged. A child who is drowning will lose consciousness within two minutes under water. After four to six minutes, irreversible brain damage will occur, regardless if the child is resuscitated.
Training
To maintain licensure, foster parents must undergo training in various aspects of caring for children. The content of the training varies by the state of residence. Some states require foster parents to become trained in water safety, while others require CPR certification. In addition, parents must have a home inspection. Some aspects of this inspection related to pool safety include a check for security barriers and the presence of life jackets.
Barriers
Foster parents who have a pool at their home can set up barriers to prevent pool access by children. Although barriers should not be used in place of supervision, they may slow a child from entering the pool or alert a foster parent when she gets too close. Pool barriers include fences and walls that are at least 4 feet high surrounding the pool, patio door alarms and pool covers that give a signal when a child is attempting to access the water.
Prevention
Guidelines and safety measures apply to all parents around a pool, but foster parents are held to a high level of responsibility for the children they care for. The American Academy of Pediatrics has several recommendations to maintain the highest safety standards for children around pools. Never leave a child alone in or near a pool, even for a second. The AAP recommends practicing a touch-safety rule that all children younger than the age of 5 must be within arm's length of a parent at all times. Do not rely on pool flotation toys in place of adult supervision, and remove all toys after swimming to avoid the temptation for a child to reach into the water.
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