THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512050118
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 167 lines
ON CHRISTMAS EVE, 22 of Faye and Bill England's 102 children will gather around the tree in the couple's rambling Chesapeake Colonial to exchange gifts.
On Christmas morning, they'll all work together to prepare the festive holiday meal - a roast turkey, a baked ham and several kinds of pies. Then they'll sit around the dining room table and give thanks for their many blessings.
And if spiritual wealth can be measured in human lives helped toward healing, this couple has indeed laid up treasures, both here on Earth and in heaven.
For 30 years, the Englands have been caring for children for the Virginia Beach Department of Social Services. During most of that time, they lived in the Pembroke area, but three years ago they moved to Chesapeake.
In the big, two-story Hickory area home, they continue to open their doors and hearts to foster kids from Virginia Beach. The department is so grateful for the Englands' long years of dedicated service that it recently honored the couple at an appreciation dinner.
Present and former foster children now total 94. The Englands also have three natural children and five adopted children. They currently are caring for two foster children and are hoping that another will arrive in time for Christmas.
``You don't do this without God,'' says Faye England, 58, watching her 3-year-old foster son, Ethan, move a collection of plastic dinosaurs around his bedroom floor.
The towhead, dressed in Osh Kosh overalls, bends down to lift the edge of his bedspread, then stands back smiling to display his new Lion King sheets.
``He's a doll,'' says Faye England, as Ethan toddles off down the long, bedroom-lined hall. ``All boy and smart as a whip.'' Then, like any proud parent, she launches into a description of his latest hijinks.
Downstairs, in a large back bedroom-sitting room, two 16-year-old girls with cerebral palsy watch television from comfortable positions in lounge chairs. They are severely disabled and require around-the-clock care. But for Faye and Bill England, caring for their permanent foster daughters is not work. It's a labor of love. Bill gets big smiles from Sandy and Kammi, the severely disabled girls, who attend Great Bridge High School.
Shawn England, 24, has stopped by to see his adopted parents. He sits with Sandy and Kammi in front of the television set. Shawn was raised by the couple from the age of 3 months and enjoyed having ``a whole lot of brothers and sisters.'' Now he lives on his own but stops by frequently to see his parents.
Outside, 13-year-old Nikala takes her adopted parents' hands for a stroll across the tree-shaded lawn. A student at Great Hope Baptist Christian School, she has lived with the Englands since she was 13 months old. They are the only parents she's ever known.
``You don't feel like they're tying you down,'' says Bill England, watching Ethan and Nikala romp on the lawn. ``I don't know what we'd do without them.''
Bill England, 60, is service manager for C.L. Richard Inc. in Norfolk, a ship repair company. He retired from the Navy in 1977 after 22 years of service.
He's a Georgia native. Faye was born in southwestern Virginia but has lived in this area since she was 17.
Both are active members of Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, where they've attended for 24 years. They'll celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary this month.
Faye England explains that their faith in God has inspired them to raise so many children.
``It's a kind of calling,'' she says. ``I feel like it's a kind of ministry in our home.''
The bonding that goes on between Faye and Bill England and their foster children is attested to by Cheryl Linman, who lived in their home for seven years after being removed from the care of her natural parents.
Linman, who lives now in Roanoke Rapids, N.C., along with her older brother and sister, lived with the Englands for about seven years. She'll be home for Christmas - home to the Englands, that is.
Remembering the time when, at the age of 12, she came to live with the couple, she said, ``At first you think that there's no place like home no matter how bad it is, but having security - not to worry about food on the table and clothes. . . ,'' says Linman.
Former foster child Linman recalled an incident that, she says, exemplifies the Englands' caring.
It was about 25 years ago, and Faye England's mother was ill and in a sanitarium. Each week, when the family visited the facility, they stopped to talk with an old man they soon came to call ``Grampa.''
``He'd say (to Faye), `Lady, please take me home with you,' '' remembers Linman. Though the Englands had seven children in their home at the time, they took the old man home with them and cared for him until his natural daughter was located in West Virginia.
Linman, who went blind at age 29 from diabetes, eventually formed a relationship with her natural parents. Recently, after her natural father died, she called the Englands, and Bill told her, ``Remember, you still have a Dad here,'' she says. It reminded her of the days in her youth when he would greet her as she came in the door from school with, ``Well, there's my little girl.''
Some foster children stay, as did Linman, for many years, often until they are grown. Others, though, are returned to their families. When that happens, it is hard on the Englands.
``She cries when the social worker comes to take them,'' says Bill England of his wife.
``We both grew up poor and wanted to share what we had,'' says Faye England of her dedication to helping the children of others.
As the big, orange sun dips into the western horizon across the wide expanse of farm fields, Nikala and Ethan swing together on a double-seat swing beneath the branches of tall elms.
``This is their world right here,'' says Bill England. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
ABOVE: Bill and Faye England stroll across their tree-shaded lawn
with two of their children, 3-year-old Ethan and 13-year-old
Nikala.
RIGHT: Nikala and Ethan swing together on a swing beneath the
branches of tall elms.
``You don't feel like they're tying you down,'' says Bill England of
his foster kids. His face draws big smiles from Sandy and Kammi, two
severely disabled 16-year-old girls with cerebral palsy.
``You don't do this without God. . . . It's a kind of calling. I
feel like it's a kind of ministry in our home. . . . We both grew up
poor and wanted to share what we had,'' says Faye England, 58, of
her dedication to helping the children of others.
Nikala, one of the Englands' adopted children, helps feed one of the
Englands' permanent foster children, a 16-year-old girl with
cerebral palsy.
FOSTER CARE FACTS
The Virginia Beach Department of Social Services oversees foster
care for about 200 children each year through its Agency for Foster
Care and The Alliance for Youth (TAFY) programs.
Children referred for regular foster care get placement through
the agency, and those with severe emotional or behavioral problems
are directed through TAFY. Youngsters in both care programs have
been taken by the courts from homes where there has been some type
of abuse or neglect.
One hundred families and single parents make up the city's
complement of foster caregivers. Of these, 14 are in the TAFY
program. Bill and Faye England are among these special families.
Agency placements usually result in the return of the child to
its family within six to nine months.
Children in need of more intensive mental health intervention are
in the 3-year-old TAFY program. Of the 23 youngsters who have been
placed in TAFY foster homes, three have been emancipated, three have
gone back to their families and the rest are still in foster care.
In both programs, an effort is made to match child and foster
family toward the realization of the department's goal for long-term
commitment for the child.
Funding comes from the city, the state and the federal
government. Maintenance payment varies depending on the age of the
child and the program he or she is in.
A foster parent or family caring for a child age 13 or older is
paid $379 a month. This will increase to $388 as of Jan. 1.
Care of a TAFY child also includes a salary because of the extra
work involved.
All foster care children qualify for Medicaid.
Source: Lorelei Jones, TAFY coordinator, Virginia Beach Department
of Social Services
by CNB