Published September
2002
Businesses
can touch
the life of a foster child
By
Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor
If you’ve been to
a local chamber of commerce meeting lately, you may have run into Jeannine
Fosca, the regional coordinator for the state’s Foster Care Improvement
Plan. Since June, Fosca has been making the rounds of civic and business
organizations, letting people know there’s a need in Region 3 — Snohomish,
Skagit, Island, San Juan and Island counties — for foster-care support.
Contact
information
For more information
on becoming a licensed foster parent, call Families for Kids, a
nonprofit organization that recruits foster parents, at 888-794-1794.
For those interested
in volunteer opportunities or making a donation to the Division
of Children and Family Services, call Jeannine Fosca at 425-339-3945.
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That includes everything
from becoming a full-time or part-time foster parent to organizing a workplace
gift drive around the holidays to help spread cheer to children who have
been affected by abuse, neglect or some other family crisis.
While there are about
570 foster families in Region 3, that’s not nearly enough to place the
children that come through the local offices of the Division of Children
and Family Services, part of the state Department of Social and Health
Services, Fosca said.
“We’re in a constant
crisis,” she said, noting that there was a point this summer when colleagues
were scrambling to place more than 30 children at one time.
Becoming a full-time
foster parent, with its commitments of time and energy, isn’t for everyone,
Fosca acknowledged, but there are other things a person can do to support
the fostering network.
Like becoming a part-time
foster parent, or what is known as offering “respite” to full-time foster
parents. Under this program, a person opens his or her home to a child
for one or two weekends a month, offering full-time foster parents a chance
to recharge their batteries — and helping with foster family retention
in the process, Fosca said.
Along with respite
aid, volunteers to help transport or mentor foster children are needed,
Fosca said, as are regular donations of a number of small items.
For instance, local
Children and Family Services offices are always in need of packets of
new underwear and socks for children who are placed into care on an emergency
basis.
These children often
come into Fosca’s office with their belongings stuffed into a plastic
bag because they had nothing else to put them in. It’s sad to see, she
said, adding that contributions of backpacks and duffel bags are always
welcome.
So are donations
of liquid baby formula, diapers, teething toys and bottles for infants,
or juice boxes and individually packaged snacks for anxious youngsters
who find themselves sitting in a Children and Family Services office.
These may sound like
little things, Fosca said, but they do make a difference. They do offer
comfort to children who have been taken out of a sometimes scary or harmful
situation.
Businesses, in particular,
can help by sponsoring a drive among their employees or customers, Fosca
said, for the items mentioned above or possibly for gifts during the holiday
season, a really “high need” time of year.
Then there are the
other needs social workers bring to Fosca’s attention: a triplet stroller
requested by a foster mother who has cared for more than 200 children
during the past 14 years, a computer for a foster child with cerebral
palsy who has difficulty writing, bunk beds, bookshelves, a crib — the
list goes on.
“These are more costly
items, yet there might be individuals who, on a periodic basis, will be
willing to provide a needy family with such,” said Fosca, adding that
while hers is a state agency, there has never been a budget to meet these
needs.
And if there are
businesses or individuals out there who know of other ways in which they
can lend a hand — maybe it’s a restaurant that can donate gift certificates
or a hairstylist who can provide free haircuts on a quarterly basis —
Fosca would like to hear from them — and you.
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