South Florida steps up to protect foster children during Irma
Like every Florida resident, the past weeks have taken a toll on me. I continue to feel for those who have experienced loss and must now endure the stress of rebuilding. Although this sadness will remain with me for some time, so too will an immense feeling of gratitude for the many members of the community who came forward to make certain our children in foster care were not forgotten during this chaotic time.
When Hurricane Irma made landfall, there were nearly 5,000 children living in foster and group homes throughout Broward and Palm Beach counties. These are children who have been removed from their homes due to an incident of abuse, abandonment or neglect, and as a result, now depend on the community around them for their daily needs. Providing for the needs of these children is a heavy responsibility for our community to bear any day, but it is an especially heavy responsibility in the face of a storm as dangerous as Irma.
Ensuring the safety of nearly 5,000 children under the age of 18 during a hurricane is a truly staggering undertaking — an undertaking that no organization could do alone. While ChildNet is proud to say that every single child in our local foster care system made it through the storm without incident, the credit does not belong to us.
The credit belongs to the hundreds of foster families and group home providers who protected the foster children in their care as if they were their own. This was exemplified by Marc and Jennifer Bell who took in 70 foster children in the aftermath of the storm.
The credit belongs to the officers of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department who graciously remained at ChildNet’s SafePlace Shelter to assist staff with the children during the storm. The credit belongs to Broward and Palm Beach counties, which worked with ChildNet in the days leading up to the storm to make certain all necessary resources were readily available, should they be needed. The credit belongs to staff members from numerous child welfare agencies and organizations who, without hesitation, left their own families to provide aroundthe-clock services and support to foster children before, during and after the storm.
As our community turns its attention to the task of recovery, we cannot forget our children in foster care. While we spend our days repairing the roofs and re-building the walls of our damaged homes, it is my sincere hope that some of us will also make a commitment to repairing the hearts and re-building the confidence of our community’s most vulnerable children. I pray, not only that this is the last storm of this magnitude to impact our state, but also that it is the last storm that any of these nearly 5,000 foster children must face without the love and comfort of a family.
For more information about foster care or adoption, please call 954-414-6001 or 561-352-2501, or visit www.childnet.us.
Emilio Benitez is president and CEO of ChildNet, which serve as the Community Based Care (CBC) lead agency in both Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Providing for the needs of these children is a heavy responsibility for our community to bear any day, but it is an especially heavy responsibility in the face of a storm as dangerous as Irma.