Foster parents needed
Sometimes parents aren’t able to complete the task of nurturing their children to adulthood.
Our community hasn’t been spared from risk factors such as the economic downturn, drug and alcohol addiction and other issues affecting the breakdown of the family unit. That is why we need foster parents. From the conversations I have had with foster parents, the experience makes them feel useful, needed, interested and challenged.
In talking with teachers, law enforcement and other professionals, the breakdown of the family isn’t just creating problems for the family and children, but for society as a whole. Children being uprooted without consistent parenting can lead to behaviors later that affect the community, like crime.
As a social worker for the Department of Health and Welfare, I can attest to the need in our community for new foster parents. There have been times when I believed children were kept in living situations that were less than ideal.
On occasions foster care children were sent to other communities because there wasn’t a placement for them here. I am asking for you to look into your heart and see if you have it in you to be a foster parent. You never will get rich, but providing security and love to an at-risk child can be reward in itself.
There are two long-term foster parent couples in this community that had something to say about being a foster parent. They are Bob and Laurel Martin and Don and Edith Stolley. It has been a pleasure watching these families work their magic with foster kids.
Some of the most difficult kids turned their lives around. Now neither couple is done taking care of at-risk children. But our community needs new foster parents to take on the challenge.
The positive aspect of being a foster parent is it gives you the opportunity to give back to our community and future generations. The future will be no better than the present if we don’t do something about it. We have seen people change and they have faith that things will get better.
In front of their eyes, parents and children have changed how they were living in a positive way. Bob describes the process as having children coming to live with you with a certain perspective on life, and then you demonstrate for them a different way to live (love, discipline, respect). Negative- be prepared for your life to change. Don’t treasure things too much because they will get broken, stolen or worn out.
Don Stolley stated there is satisfaction in knowing that the children have a safe place to go after experiencing trauma.
Don and Edith have been foster parents for 14 years and over 170 children. One of their foster sons is now serving his country in the Marines.
If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, contact Idaho Youth Ranch at 208-667-1898 or Tammy Klaus at 267-3938 Idaho Department of Welfare.
Joe Fleck
Idaho Department
of Health and Welfare