ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604260084
SECTION: PARENTS' GUIDE PAGE: PG-10 EDITION: METRO
Picture a couple or single adult in a small boat, adrift on a huge ocean, looking at the unfamiliar baby or small child in their arms or the strange teen-ager standing beside them.
This is the impression some people have of what it would be like to be a foster parent or couple.
The correct picture would show that family on a much larger boat, filled with trained social service personnel, medical professionals, experts and teachers from many disciplines, foster parenting groups, even, in some cases, the child's biological family. Life preservers attached to the boat by ropes float around the boat, symbols of the many resources available in the community to foster parents.
Finding children for foster homes is easy. About half-a-million children across the country are currently in foster care. The majority of them have been removed by the courts when neglect or abuse was discovered; some were voluntarily cast off by their parent or parents.
Locally, the Roanoke Department of Social Services processes about 300 children a year, Roanoke County, 30 children.
Finding a foster parent or foster couple is often a tough task, especially for teen-agers needing assistance. Ideally, when a child is available for foster care, placement in a home is immediate. That means legwork to provide appropriate homes must be done constantly so foster parents can be ready at a moment's notice.
Debbie Henderson and Randall Eakin are Homefinders, social service workers, for Roanoke's Department of Social Services. Their jobs include recruiting new foster homes, maintaining an up-to-date list of available homes, training prospective parents and providing support.
``Our list of available homes looks fat,'' Henderson said, ``but if you look closely, you'll see most homes only take younger children.''
Teen-agers now make up about 40 percent of children in foster care.
Becoming a foster parent does not require any more expertise or skill than caring for biological children, except, perhaps, in the case of special-needs children. Complete support services - from medical training to workshops on parenting issues to child safety and CPR classes - are a normal part of the foster parenting package.
Henderson, who was a foster parent for 10 years, helped demystify the process of foster care.
``We start with orientation meetings for people who might be interested in finding out more about foster parenting,'' she explained. The application process includes criminal background checks and investigation into other records, reference checks, physicals and at least two visits to the home ``to see if the physical space is an adequate, safe, environment."
There is a mandated limit of eight children, including biological ones, for foster homes, and a minimum space requirement per child.
``We talk about the parents' backgrounds, what they have in their past and present that makes them ready to take a child into their homes, help them explore feelings of attachment/separation and, generally, get to know them as well as we can.''
Prospective parents (single parents are just as welcome) can state their preferences for a child of children in terms of age, gender, race, physical disabilities, etc.
After a four-to-five-month process, including relevant classes, parents are put on a list of available foster families.
``When a child is placed in a home, communication between the foster parents and social worker is very important, '' Eakin said. ``The social worker is always available for questions on any topic and can help find necessary medical care and school contacts.''
When a baby born with AIDS was in need of foster care, the health department was contacted, which then provided an AIDS specialist who then met with the foster parents, provided follow-up information and was available for support.
``If parents need any type of resource, we can put them in touch with it,'' Eakin continued. ``We want to give them as much help and support as we can.''
Children with special needs that cannot be met through foster homes listed with public social services agencies, may be placed through private, nonprofit organizations, such as DePaul's Family Services or Connections, an arm of Catholic Charities. These groups specialize in finding homes for children and adults with physical, emotional or behavioral problems, even teen pregnancies, learning disabilities and the wheel-chair dependent.
Private agencies are contacted by social service departments, which take care of all expenses involved.
Agencies such as DePaul's combine the healthy, normal atmosphere of traditional foster care while providing individualized treatment. For those with special needs, it's the best of both worlds.
Any costs related to foster care, including contracting the services of a private agency, are covered by the public social service organization. The monthly expense allotment per child is designed to include food, clothing (there is an additional yearly stipend), personal care and recreation and a small monthly allowance.
All medical needs, including counseling, are covered by Medicaid. Day care costs may also be reimbursed. And none of the foster care payments are taxable.
When a child is placed in a foster home, the hope is that he or she, as well as the foster parents, will adjust well to each other, bonding as a family, and that the child will remain in that home until a return home is possible or other, perhaps permanent, arrangements are necessary.
Changes in placement can always be made, but other measures are tried first. A break from each other may be all the parents and child need. Respite care, lasting for a few days or weeks, temporarily places a child in another home, with the understanding that he or she will return to regular foster parents after the break.
``When a child comes into foster care, our primary goal is to return that child to the home,'' Henderson explained. ``We [social services] work with the parents to help them get their lives back together,'' whether that means counseling, rehabilitation, training or financial assistance.
If the court decides a return home is not in a child's best interest, continued or permanent foster care may be an option. Sometimes, children are returned home, then bounced back to foster care. About half of the foster children return home within six months to a year. The longer they stay in foster care, the less likely they will ever go home.
Some children become available for adoption, whether by court determination or through parents' voluntarily terminating their rights. Many are adopted by their foster families. Of the 22 children adopted through Roanoke's D.S.S. last year, 19 became a permanent part of their foster families.
Bill Bailey, Foster Care Supervisor with Roanoke's D.S.S., would rather have fewer children to place in foster care than more parents willing to do it, but that is not a situation he's likely to have in the foreseeable future.
``We have prevention units working to find alternatives to foster care, but the big problem right now is the number of teen-agers needing homes and the lack of available homes.''
Bailey's also seen the impact of more women in the work force, more retirees and ``our more chaotic lives'' on the number of people willing to be foster parents. ``It takes twice as much work to keep the same number of homes as it did 20 years ago.''
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