Miscellaneous foster care news

I apologize that I haven’t posted in a couple of days. At the end of last week we received some news about Sammy that has rocked me to my core and I am barely functioning. I am not able to go into it right now because we are still waiting for confirmation on some things. Please bear with my over the next few days.

Now on to the real post.

Prom dresses for a cause

In a story out of Georgia, girls can shop for prom dresses and help local foster children.

Prom dresses can be expensive. So the students of Warner Robins High School can shop for used dresses that only cost about $50 or less, and the money raised will be donated to Houston County Social Services to help foster children. All of the dresses have been donated, so the money raised is pure profit. What a great cause.

More training for Ohio foster parents

Out of Ohio there is pending legislation requiring foster parents to receive additional training prior to the placement of a child, and require that of the hours required for continuing education, at least twenty hours would be spent teaching or mentoring other foster parents. In return, many of the foster parents’ records and the paperwork they have to fill out for licensing would be confidential.

While on the surface this looks like good legislation, I have some concerns. Is someone going to be monitoring the “teaching” or mentoring by these foster parents? If there is a foster parent who has a distorted view of how discipline should be handled, or what the best way to handle a raging child is, do we really want them passing to views on to another family?

The proposed legislation is in response to the 2006 death of a foster child at the hands of his foster parents. Do we want parents who are capable of killing their foster child to train or mentor other parents? I sure don’t. I think the concept of the legislation is good, but there needs to be some safety measures in place.

Inquiries in foster care adoption have risen

A story in USA Today states that inquiries in foster care adoption have risen by 47%. That is great news. Speculation is that since many foreign countries have tightened restrictions, and some have even closed adoptions, that more families are looking to adopt within the U.S.

The number of children adopted from foreign countries had fallen for the third year in a row. I feel bad for the families that have waited so long for their child, only to have things fall through or take even longer, but I am glad for the kids in the U.S. that may potentially be adopted as a result.

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