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Economy squeezing foster care system
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| By: Ned Valentine, Dispatch staff |
February 06, 2009 |
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A souring economy means two things to those who take care of Kansas' homeless and foster children: more children will be entering the system and there will be less money in the budget to take care of them.
Former Clay Centerite Mary Beth Kieffer told Rotarians Thursday noon that the staff of Youthville, the Wichita-based corporate contractor overseeing children in the Kansas foster care system, are bracing for the coming year.
"We know more children will enter the system and we can't afford to lose employees," Kieffer said. "We may have to take a cut in pay because these children must be taken care of."
She said all the children entering the system are suffering from mental, physical or sexual abuse or come combination of the three. Many have no home or even family and are entirely alone.
"We always need foster homes," Kieffer said.
She said that while Youthville is required to return children to their homes families, if possible, parental rights are being severed faster all the time by the courts and 300 children are currently in the system looking for adoption.
She said children are traumatized when they're taken out of a home, particularly if they come from a meth house.
"As bad as conditions are in their home, they don't want to leave," she said. Children coming from meth homes can't even be allowed to bring their teddy bear with them when they're removed from the home, she said.
There are children in need of care in every community. "We have children from this community right now," she said adding that people often believe their communities have been spared the problem.
"They come to us with everything they own in a trash bag," Kieffer said. Volunteers try to find duffle bags or suitcases as gifts or from garage sales for the child to have to take to his or her new home.
Besides 350 foster homes throughout Kansas, Youthville also operates two centers for treatment of children with extreme emotional problems, a center specializing in expressive art therapy in Newton and a ranch in Dodge City specializing in equestrian therapy.
"They let the horse pick the child," she said. "Not the other way around. You would be surprised how the orneriest horse will always pick out the orneriest child to pair up with."
Besides foster and adoptive parents, Youthville needs monetary donations, gifts of livestock or farm commodities, gift cards, new clothing and household goods. Volunteers also are needed for mentoring and tutoring, farm and ranch labor, transportation, clerical and office support or liasions with churches and civic organizations.
Youthville is the largest foster care services provider in the state and is a non-profit organization of its kind in Kansas, Kieffer said. She said the organization has the highest re-integration rate of any of the agencies.
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©Clay Center Dispatch 2010
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