DSS hopes to foster more parents

DSS hopes to foster more parents

The Associated Press

ROCK HILL, S.C. --
The state Department of Social Services hope stories like Gayle
Starr's will encourage others to become foster parents.

Starr has no children of her own, but her five foster children call
her "Mom." The 48-year-old Clover resident grew up in a family of 14
children and has been a foster parent since 1996.

Her goal is to the give her foster children the same caring
environment she grew up in.

She has had two of her foster children - who range in age from two to
15 - for seven years.

The Department of Social Services is always looking to recruit more
foster parents, but they are hoping to turn National Foster Care month
into a reason for people to get involved.

"The need is great," said Lynn Wallace, community resource coordinator
for DSS. "People are perhaps not aware of what our needs are."

Foster care is temporary care for children who have been deemed at
high risk for abuse or neglect by a parent or other caregiver. Social
Services tries to put the children with a relative first, but if that
isn't possible, the agency places them in a licensed foster home or
other facility until they can be reunited with their families.

"We don't want a child to come into foster care if it can be
prevented," Wallace said.

Among the goals of foster care are to keep siblings in the same home
and to keep the children in the same school, where being among friends
and in a familiar surrounding can make the transition to foster care
easier.

"That's their support system that's already in place," Wallace said.
"When we don't have enough foster parents, we're not able to do that."

Nationally, there were more than half a million children in foster
care as of 2001, according to the latest information from the
Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. About 60 percent of those
children were reunited with their parents.

While the number of children in the foster care system is growing at a
steady pace, the number of people willing to become foster parents is
not.

Wallace said confusion over the role of foster parents may be one
reason more people don't join the program.

Foster parents provide daily care for children, including food and
shelter, assisting with educational and medical needs and providing
transportation to and from school or other appointments. Foster care
can last anywhere from a few days to a few years or longer. Some
foster parents end up adopting the children.

It takes about four months for qualified applicants to go through the
screening process, which includes a criminal background check.

"A lot of these children have potential, but it takes us to bring it
out of them," said Starr. "It's not something that they did to be put
in the position they're in."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb.../APN/405090651


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Guess everyone has heard of CPS' ineptitude.

Why aren't relatives actively solicited? In FL, DCF often does not contact
family, then when fosters wish to adopt, there is NO way for them to, since CPS
only did half their job.

Wex sent in:

Subject: DSS hopes to foster more parents
From: wexwimpy
Date: 5/9/2004 3:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

DSS hopes to foster more parents

The Associated Press

ROCK HILL, S.C. --
The state Department of Social Services hope stories like Gayle
Starr's will encourage others to become foster parents.

Starr has no children of her own, but her five foster children call
her "Mom." The 48-year-old Clover resident grew up in a family of 14
children and has been a foster parent since 1996.

Her goal is to the give her foster children the same caring
environment she grew up in.

She has had two of her foster children - who range in age from two to
15 - for seven years.

The Department of Social Services is always looking to recruit more
foster parents, but they are hoping to turn National Foster Care month
into a reason for people to get involved.

"The need is great," said Lynn Wallace, community resource coordinator
for DSS. "People are perhaps not aware of what our needs are."

Foster care is temporary care for children who have been deemed at
high risk for abuse or neglect by a parent or other caregiver. Social
Services tries to put the children with a relative first, but if that
isn't possible, the agency places them in a licensed foster home or
other facility until they can be reunited with their families.

"We don't want a child to come into foster care if it can be
prevented," Wallace said.

Among the goals of foster care are to keep siblings in the same home
and to keep the children in the same school, where being among friends
and in a familiar surrounding can make the transition to foster care
easier.

"That's their support system that's already in place," Wallace said.
"When we don't have enough foster parents, we're not able to do that."

Nationally, there were more than half a million children in foster
care as of 2001, according to the latest information from the
Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. About 60 percent of those
children were reunited with their parents.

While the number of children in the foster care system is growing at a
steady pace, the number of people willing to become foster parents is
not.

Wallace said confusion over the role of foster parents may be one
reason more people don't join the program.

Foster parents provide daily care for children, including food and
shelter, assisting with educational and medical needs and providing
transportation to and from school or other appointments. Foster care
can last anywhere from a few days to a few years or longer. Some
foster parents end up adopting the children.

It takes about four months for qualified applicants to go through the
screening process, which includes a criminal background check.

"A lot of these children have potential, but it takes us to bring it
out of them," said Starr. "It's not something that they did to be put
in the position they're in."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb.../APN/405090651


Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become
a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.