FAIRMONT — As child abuse awareness month continues, the Marion County Family Resource and Support Network stressed the need for foster families in the county.
At the FRSN monthly meeting with its community collaborators Wednesday, Nicci Hawkins, licensing specialist at NECCO Foster Care, said older children often get overlooked when families decide to become foster parents. The child welfare agency recruits and certifies families to take children in for foster care.
“We need foster families who are willing to take all ages, zero up to 18, but the biggest need right now here are families who are willing to accept the older kids, six and older, and the sibling groups,” Hawkins said. “Sibling groups are split the majority of the time because we don’t have enough families who are able to take three or more kids or families who can take kids of the opposite gender.”
There are currently 6,000 kids in foster care across the state, Hawkins said. The budget passed by the Republican Supermajority West Virginia State Legislature paid $174 million for foster care. Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, said foster care was already underfunded under Gov. Jim Justice’s flat budgets. Child Protective Services is underfunded, understaffed and overworked.
West Virginia Watch reported on April 3 the Republican House of Delegates tried to reduce Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s request of $182 million for foster care down to $121 million. Angelica Hightower, Department of Human Services spokesperson, said the governor’s original request was essential funding for the Bureau of Social Services.
Hawkins said foster care is important because those kids are in a situation out of their control. It’s not their fault. Also, the system considers children over six, old.
“So we want to make sure they have that safe housing, that they have that love and they have that acceptance so they can still be able to succeed while their family is doing what they can to be able to get them back and reunify,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said 49% of kids in foster care are between the ages of 9 and 17. Older children placed at shelters typically become forgotten because of their age or because of the trauma they’ve accrued from growing up in their environment. Hawkins said there’s a lot of misconceptions out there on who can be a foster parent.
There is a qualification process which includes background checks and fingerprints, but applicants don’t have to be married, they can be single or dating. A large home isn’t needed, any dwelling such as an apartment or trailer with an extra bedroom for a child can be used. Hawkins said some kids benefit from fostering with single people, while others do better with fosters who are LGBTQ. Some kids do better with families who are transgender, because that might be a process the child is going through, Hawkins said. Fosters don’t have to be preexisting parents either.
NECCO also offers its foster parents plenty of support, including after hours if there’s a crisis or difficult challenge.
Shannon Hogue, chief executive director of FRSN, said foster care is extremely important for children. The state of West Virginia has a high number of children who are out of homes and not receiving direct care, she said. Part of the work at FRSN is creating activities and programs that prevent child abuse or prevent children from entering crisis situations.
“Statistics say there are a host of different things, lack of resources, lack of support, lack of education or families in the area that create crisis situations,” Hogue said. “One of the things we can do here is take an account of what gaps and services there are — are there things that we can provide to families and make them feel safe?”