"I am willing to safeguard the well-being of children!" shouted Deputy Mayor Shyu Jong-Shyoung (徐中雄) on the press conference for foster family services held on March 18.

Social Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government held a press conference for the recruitment of foster families in the morning of March 18.A little drama was performed to highlight the lack of foster families. Two incumbent foster families hosted by Xu Ming-xian (許銘憲) and Zhu Mei-xiu (朱美秀) and Zhang Bo-zhong (張伯忠) and Zhu Mei-mung (朱美滿) were invited to share their experience in child care.

Deputy Mayor Shyu said that children are the assets of a country and the government should integrate all kinds of resources to take care of children deprived of their family due to various factors. Shyu also mentioned that there are currently 487 children under placement in Taichung City, among whom 360 are placed in institutions and 167 are placed in 133 foster families. “It is obvious that we are in need of more foster families and I feel grateful that you from the welfare agencies are here to launch this recruitment campaign for foster families,” added Shyu.

Liao Su-ling (廖素玲), Deputy Director-general of Social Affairs Bureau, said that Social Affairs Bureau has been commissioning the family foster care services to welfare agencies for many years and that children placed under the attentive care of foster families have good emotional attachment, go to school every day, grow normally, and enjoy the warmth of a family. “I hope more families are willing to accept fostered children into their homes,” said Liao.

Xu Ming-xian and Zhu Mei-xiu have started their foster family since December 1999. Mr. Xu works with a sports equipment company while Mrs. Xu is a full-time housewife. They have taken care of 23 fostered children in the past 14 years. “Every child is precious. All of them are angels. They should be carefully protected,” said Mr. and Mrs. Xu.

Zhang Bo-zhong and Zhu Mei-mung have joined the rank of foster families since 2009. Mrs. Zhang owns a caregiver license and works with Maria Child Caring Homes (瑪麗亞愛心家園) to take care of physically disabled children. They have formed their foster family for six years. “Of course, there have been ups and downs along the way but we feel it is a worthy job and we will never regret it,” added Mr. and Mrs. Zhang.

Social Affairs Bureau urged those married couples or single-parent families to join the ranks of foster families, if they live in Taichung City, are married for more than two years, are aged between 30 and 65, own an education level of junior high school or above, have a fixed income, and can provide sufficient living space to serve the family-deprived children.

Social Affairs Bureau commissions the annual foster families recruitment campaign to Taichung City North District Family Support Center, South District Family Support Center, and Children Welfare League. The World Vision Taiwan has started to join the recruitment campaign this year. Those who are interested please contact Ms. Wang at the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Center. Her contact number is 04-22289111 ext. 38859.