So you are willing to be a foster parent!
Taking a hurting child into your home is one of the most honorable things that you can do and can be one of the most rewarding also. The easiest part for foster care agencies is melting people’s hearts and getting them to say they’ll take needy kids. The statistics are that the many of the foster parents will not even make it through their first year, and there is a good reason for that. Foster parents agree to perform all the functions of birth parents while the child is in their care, including meeting the child's health, school, and parental guidance needs. This is where the problem lies and why we are in this current situation. While we expect foster parents to perform all the functions that a biological parent would, we do not always afford them the opportunity to care for the children with the same manner as they feel are dignified.
The majority of professionals have come to realize that resource parents are one of the most important parts of the system and the more involved they are the better the outcome, not only for the children, but also for the goals set forth by social services themselves. The Department of Health and Human Services has done research on recruitment and retention of foster parents and here is a small sample of what they found in these areas.
"Frustrated and Exhausted"
Rare is the foster parent who doesn’t consider giving up. When the Department of Health and Human Services interviewed 115 foster parents in five states for its recent reports ("Recruiting Foster Parents" and "Retaining Foster Parents"), every one of them "said they had … considered leaving the foster care system."
Various reports have warned since the 1980s that the number of foster homes is decreasing. There are no firm national figures, but there is clearly an incessant drain that keeps agencies scrambling to fill the void. When Karen Jorgenson, Administrator of the National Foster Parent Association, began recruiting and training foster parents for Nevada several years ago, she was shocked to learn that 42 percent of the parents had been foster parents for less than a year.
"Many leave because they are frustrated and exhausted," the Department of Health and Human Services reported. "They are weary from navigating a foster care system that is difficult and inoperable."
Although this may seem a little depressing it is actually a very positive thing. The professionals in social services have come to realize that if they want to be successful, they must make sure that we are successful. The only way that this will happen is to make us part of the professional team and the agencies that use good practice, are moving in that direction. With the partnership of Lancaster County Children and Youth we are moving in that direction and following the Department of Health and Human Services recommendation to provide foster parents with a tool kit that will empower you to maximize you foster care experiences. The agencies that are ahead of the curve are already doing the things that we are asking for in this tool kit, and I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND something to you. If you are thinking about becoming a foster parent with any agency, ask them if this is the standard that you can expect to be treated with or what their policy is in this area. There is a very strong probability that it will be the difference between your success and your failure.