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Our local newspaper is covering the desperate need for foster parents this month. As Jenna pointed out yesterday, May is National Foster Care Month. The national slogan for the month is “change a lifetime,” referring to the lives of children who enter foster care. It is a change all right. While the final results of living in foster care, usually outweigh the initial horror children experience when entering foster care, they rarely consider throwing a party over the whole experience. The best analogy I have heard to describe what is it like for a child to enter foster care is this. Imagine that the police came to your home and took just you, to another family, in a different home. Once in your new home, you were introduced to your new family, new rules, shown your new bed, new pets, given new clothes, and toys. You were not allowed to bring any of your stuff, or speak to any of your original family, for over a week.
Then, for the next year, you were allowed to see your family for one hour a week. When you asked when you could go home you were continuously told, “I don’t know by everyone.” As you can see from this analogy, the new home might offer more amenities and be safer, but what a horrific shock to a child. As you are aware, many of these children never go home. Either they age out of foster care, over 20,000 a year, basically homeless, or they are adopted. The foster parents, people they have at least gotten used to and possibly learned to love, adopt some of these children. Other children must wait until an adoptive family can be recruited to adopt them. Again, they are told, “I don’t know,” then they move to a new family, new rules, well you get the picture. While the adoptive parents celebrate finally having a forever child, it is rarely a celebration to the child, at least initially.
There are over 513,000 children in the American foster care system. Almost any adult can be a foster parent. You don’t have to be married, own a home, have a certain income, or have a stay at home parent. My mother is 68 years old, a widow, and has been fostering teenage girls for almost a decade. While foster care isn’t perfect, research indicates that children who have a caring adult, who stays in their lives, are more likely to be successful as adults.
For more information about National Foster Care Month, planned community events, and the many ways in which you can make a lasting difference for America’s children and youth in foster care call l-888-799-KIDS (5437) or click on the link.
Source: BattleCreekEnquirer.com
Photo Credit: 2007 Julia Fuller.
I am very interested in becoming a foster parent, I would appreciate all information needed to get started on the process. I will be living in Citrus County.
Thanks In Advance
Norma Burriss
22 80 Ave
Treasure Island, Fl 33706
864-367-5888–cell
It goes without saying that there is a definite need for foster and adoptive families in this country. With over 500,000 children in foster care, it is disheartening to think what happens to them when there isn’t any stable home environment in which they can reside. It is people like you, Norma, that are willing to give a piece of yourself to someone in need (especially a child) that makes me think we have a chance to help these kids that did not ask to be put in such a traumatic situation.
I have to admit though that I have ulterior motives for posting this blog. I would like to take this time to advocate for a bill that would increase recruitment and retention of foster and adoptive parents, which we know this country is in dire need of. The main goal of this bill, HB 4198, is to provide competitive grants for the establishment and expansion of programs that use networks of public, private, and faith-based organizations to recruit and train foster and adoptive parents and provide support services to foster children and their families.
It is my thought that in order to increase the number of foster parents, the public must first be informed of the need for such support. If the general public does not know of the need, we cannot hold them accountable for the lack of support in this area. I truly believe that if good, qualified people knew of the need for foster and adoptive families, there would be an abundance of them. That is what HB 4198 is trying to accomplish. Make it as easy as possible for people to obtain information on how to become a foster parent, and they will respond to the need…just like we Americans do when our country goes through a crisis situation such as 9-11 or Katrina. We need to make this need as well-known to the public as possible or the need will not ever decrease. So if you are reading this, and agree, I think it is important for you to look into HB 4198 and inform your Congress person of the need for them to support this Bill. The foster children of our country depend upon it.
PS Norma-
If you haven’t already, I would recommend that you contact your local Department of Human Services agency to inquire about the process of becoming a foster parent. Or as Julia suggested, call the number she provided or click on the link.
We were faoster parents in Monterey county,ca.but that was a bad thing to do if you care about the children there. My husband and I were completing our homestudy and we spoke up against something the worker was doing that was cause our daughter that was 5 to lash out at home and he was going against a court order at the time. This cause for the department to come after us. Within two months the planned to take our child from us and change our whole life. My biological child had to goto couceling for a year now, My husband and I cried for months, I still hear the baby that nobody wanted cry at night and when I wake up she’s not there. My Daughter would have been starting the first grade with my other daughter. My son would have been starting preschool. When we called for our ombusmen the department let us know that we don’t have on for foster parents and that the dapartment can do what ever they want with out anyone regulating them. We filed grievance and they didn’t even know what to do with the form. We have the kids lawyers on our side fighting for us. The “non byist party” that they used was the head of Adult Protective Services. So no we do not support county adoptions anymore.We miss our child dearly and feel no one should ever go through what we did. So if you decide to adopt through the county please check with your state to see if your county is on the up and up.