Local Leaders Urge Community To Support Foster Care Efforts
May is National Foster Care month and Benton County is in search of more foster parents to support the county's needs. To discuss I was joined by Benton County Social Services Supervisor Adam Maertens, Benton County Child Foster Care Licensor Bryanna Long and Benton County Commissioner Steve Heinen.
The Need
Long says there is a need for foster care parents throughout the state of Minnesota. She says Benton County currently has just 7 foster homes. Long says only 2 of those 7 foster families can take teenagers. She says finding foster homes for teenagers has been a bigger challenge.
Types of Households
Maertens says foster care providers can be any type of family that can include a household in a home, renting an apartment, or renting a home. He says the home doesn't have to be a 2-parent picket fence type of household. Maertens says it doesn't matter if the potential foster parent has kids or doesn't have kids. He explains that foster parents are people that want to help kids and be apart of their lives. All foster providers receive a daily per diem to help with costs. The amount of the per diem depends on the need of the child.
Why Kids End Up in Foster Care
Long says kids often times end up in the foster system due to safety concerns in the home which can be chemical dependency or physical abuse. She indicates their child protection team along with law enforcement remove the children from those homes. Long says the length of time that a foster parent commits to having the child in their home is really up to them. She believes the longer the better for each child in need.
Background Checks
All foster parents go through a full licensing process for all of their providers which includes a full State and Federal background check to ensure these people would be safe to be with children.
Finding Homes
When placing children, Maertens says they look to see if there is a family member that could take the child prior to looking at traditional foster providers, who don't have a relationship with the child.
Questions or Concerns
If you have any questions or concerns about being a foster provider, please contact Bryanna Long at 320-968-5101 or go their website.
If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Bryanna, Adam and Steve, click below.