The Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services is desperately seeking some good homes looking to make a difference.
Humboldt County has nearly double the state rate of children in foster care —1.2 percent of children ages 0-17 compared to .68 percent statewide, according to Kidsdata.org — and the high rates have been stretching the system. While there’s no single factor that explains why our local rates are so high, officials say it’s not a surprise given Humboldt’s preponderance of substance abuse and poverty.
DHHS is looking for foster homes for kids of all ages, but the department is especially in need of people willing to take in teenagers.
“Older kids coming into care can be just as scared and shut down as the little ones,” said Michele Stephens, deputy director of Child Welfare Services for DHHS, in a statement emailed to the Journal. “They’ve experienced some form of trauma and as a result sometimes act out as a way of coping. We need caregivers who understand this and are willing to provide safe and supportive homes for teens.”
Helping young people transition into adulthood is another role foster parents can play, Stephens added. “Youth in foster care don’t often have the opportunities to learn basic life skills other kids are taught at home — how to balance a checkbook, find an apartment, apply to college, find a job,” he said.
DHHS is looking for caregivers who can teach these skills in a home setting and in an effort to stir up more interest in fostering, the department recently hired Malcolm DeSoto and his Runaway Kite film company to create the eight-minute documentary embedded above. Be warned, watching it may make you want to immediately foster 17 children.
This article appears in Suing Squires.
Why have kids if you cannot care for them? I wish I had the space for a kid or two in need.
Why stop there?
Humboldt County has horrendous statistics in every human health category…including foster care failure rates.
Many of these youths are not suitable for foster care and require what all youths require.
Emancipation.
Unfortunately, these programs mostly disappeared in the last generation, part of the broader government and business divestment from human resources, infrastructure and jobs.
These youths need one source guiding them through applications for Medi-Cal, food stamps, financial aid, employment and housing with a modest stipend as long as they remain in school. It requires a business community that puts their money where their mouth is by developing a wage subsidy program for part-time jobs.
Anything less is inhumane.
It would be wonderful to read here the support systems in place for those who foster children who have experienced extreme trauma in their lives. As well as information on the training a foster parent has available to them to address the needs of children who are born addicted to drugs, alcohol fetal syndrome, sexually exploited, neglected and physically harmed by their birth parents. Having known only a handful of birth parents who lost their children to the system and then did the rehab and parenting classes and are now successfully parenting, their stories need to be told for the one’s facing severe issues. There is hope. And hope is nothing without backing to reform one’s life to honor the children they have brought into the world. Kudos to the families which choose to foster. With all the inherent risks of bringing an unknown child or teen into your home, you need training and support.