Open houses
in Phoenix and the Mesa Convention Center. Scores of people at each fair learned about the foster-care licensing process and how to serve foster children in other ways. Dozens of agencies participated.
The open houses were firsttime events organized to respond to the unprecedentedly low number of foster homes currently available. Most foster-care agencies recruit via booths at other types of expos, over the Internet and from other adoptive parents.
Services available to the different segments of the fostercare community are as diverse as the kids themselves. Organizers wanted potential parents and volunteers to know that fostering should be a community effort.
Open Table connects foster children aging out of the system with faith communities that help them through the transition. Roshelle Johnson, project manager at the nonprofit, said foster kids who get help from caring adults are less likely to be homeless, impoverished or undereducated.
“These children are pulled out of their home, justifiably sometimes, because they’ve been neglected and abused,” she said. “They’ve transitioned to many different foster or group homes, so they have not had an opportunity for consistent, supportive community to develop around them.”
There are more than 13,000 children in Arizona’s foster sys- tem. But as of March, there was only space for about 8,570 kids in 3,480 licensed foster homes.
The shortage forces some children to live in crisis shelters, group homes and treatment facilities. As of June, there were more than1,870 kids — including nearly 40 kids under 4 years old — in group homes or shelters.
“A lot of those ending up in shelters and group homes really should be in families and home settings,” said JoAnn Lachance, family developer at Casey Family Programs, a fostercare agency.
Many foster parents do not renew their licenses for legitimate reasons. The tough economy has made caring for additional children impossible for some families. And the stress of fostering a child with a traumatic past can be too much for some families.
For many kids, to get the best care possible, they need to be in a home.
Sandra Hollingsworth has been a licensed foster parent for 22 years. She became a foster parent when a co-worker who was having a difficult time caring for his daughter asked for Hollingsworth’s help. Nine years later, she officially became a foster parent thanks to Casey Family Programs. She now focuses on helping pregnant teenagers.
“Everyone wants the little babies, but there are kids 7, 8 and 9 years old that need homes,” Hollingsworth said.
Kristen Leetz, a sales executive for the Arizona Diamondbacks, serves with Fostering Hope AZ, which is part of D-Backs Give Back. Diamondbacks employees mentor teenagers in the foster-care system and raise funds for foster-care initiatives.
“There’s people out there that can’t be a foster parent or adopt, but we want to give them a way to help in the overall picture,” she said.