Valmiera family of sheep farmers finds room in their home for foster children

In Valmiera municipality, at a farm called “Jēru klubs”, Ilze and Valters Mitāns spend their days caring for more than 60 ewes and running a rural tourism business. Alongside this work, the family has for several years taken on another role: fostering children who cannot grow up with their biological parents.

The farm was established fifteen years ago, when the couple moved to land owned by Valters' parents and housed their first sheep in a former Soviet-era collective farm club building — which gave the farm its name.

An idea born before marriage

Ilze and Valters had discussed the possibility of taking responsibility for another child even before they married. The idea initially centered on adoption, but after a guardianship court asked them to urgently take in a child, the family instead became registered foster parents. Today, alongside their four biological children — two adults, a teenager and a young daughter — two foster children, a brother and sister aged five and seven, are also growing up in their home.

A foster parent, not a mother or father

The couple stress that being a foster parent differs from adoption: the child must be allowed to keep their bond with their biological parent, and the family must accept that the child's stay may be temporary — even if it often stretches on for years.

Practical challenges and support

The couple say a lack of space or resources is often only a perceived obstacle — practical solutions, such as buying a bunk bed, tend to be found quickly, and their own children usually welcome newcomers warmly. When dealing with schools, Ilze has adopted an approach free of guilt, focusing instead on solving problems together with teachers. The family notes that support for foster families has improved significantly in recent years, both through the SOS Children's Villages support centre “Airi” in Valmiera and through increased state financial assistance.

Ilze and Valters encourage those considering becoming foster parents not to fear the unknown, noting that difficulties ease with time and that the sense of fulfilment from helping a child outweighs the effort involved.