State Baptists seek to meet growing foster-care needs

Tonight in Alabama, nearly 6,000 children will be tucked into beds that aren’t their own in houses that aren’t their homes.

But thanks to scores of Baptists and other willing families across the state, the children’s displacement can allow for a beautiful arrangement — a loving home, as well as an opportunity to redefine for hurting children the roles of mom, dad and even God.

As June gave way to July, 5,935 Alabama residents under the age of 19 found themselves in “out of home” placements, either in group homes or foster parent situations, according to the state Department of Human Resources (DHR).

And the need continues to grow, said Louise Green, director of special programs for Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries (ABCH). “We always need foster homes — I don’t think we could ever have enough,” Green said. “We have more requests many times than we have homes for.”

The requests, she said, come from DHR, which places the children either directly in foster homes or divvies out the requests to other  state agencies like ABCH according to the best fit for the child.

“We never run out of places to put children, but we always have a need for more foster parents in order to better meet the specific needs of a child,” said Connie Rogers, DHR recruitment and retention specialist. “There’s always a need and it is becoming more and more challenging to meet it.”

Rogers attributed the spike in the number of children needing placement partly to the spread of methamphetamine labs in the state. “We tell potential foster parents to prepare themselves to deal with the emotions and confusion that may come with the children’s being from this type of situation,” she said.

But, Green emphasized, the rewards for both foster parents and children are undefinable. “If you have a heart for children, we have a lot who need loving parents to model for them how loving parents interact with their children and with each other,” she said.

There’s an opportunity, too, to model what Christianity is all about — an aspect of foster parenting that’s extremely important, especially considering that in most cases the children have never seen that lived out, Green added.

“It’s full of rewards — seeing a child come to Christ and having them understand what it means, taking a sick or abused child and helping them become healthy again, or see the child’s parents get it together so the child can go home,” she said. “The difficult part is then letting the child go.”

A child can need foster care for several days or several years, Green said, though after a child has been in foster care for 15 out of 22 months, permanent plans must be made for him or her.

But the need is more for short-term nurturing and care than long-term commitment, Green said. “Adoption is not the reason to foster, but if the child does become available, foster parents have the first choice to adopt,” she said. “Most who choose to foster see it not as an avenue to adopt but as their ministry to children — they want to use their talent to serve the Lord.”

What does it take to become a foster parent?

To become a foster parent through ABCH, Green said several hurdles must be cleared, including:

• Training. Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent must complete 30 hours of training over the course of 10 consecutive weeks, a statewide mandate through DHR, Green said.
• Screening. A criminal background check is run, as well as one through the national child abuse and neglect screening system.
• Mandatory physicals, plus a financial checkup. “We check to see that they are stable financially,” Green said. “We don’t want foster parenting to be a burden on them.”

Foster parents who care for children placed through ABCH by DHR receive a board payment for each child by the state, plus supplemental funds from ABCH. Private referrals to ABCH (those that do not come through DHR) are funded solely by ABCH.

“Most of the children from DHR come with Medicaid, too, and any private placements through ABCH are provided with Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage,” Green said. “Financially foster parents do not pay out-of-pocket for the children.”

• Active involvement in a Christian church. “The family does not have to be Baptist, but they do have to be actively involved in a Christian church,” Green said. “We want to make sure they are a balanced family, that they have fun but will incorporate the lifestyle of being a Christian and going to church for a child who doesn’t know what that means.”

For more information, contact ABCH at 1-888-720-8805.