Foster Care
Foster Care
It’s Real. It’s a Part of Life. It Can Be Challenging, but It’s Also Rewarding
Eddie Murphy, Colin Kaepernick, Steve Jobs, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Willie Nelson, Ice T, Cher, Louis Armstrong, Alonzo Mourning. Have you any idea what this illustrious assortment of celebrities have in common? Since this is an article about fostering kids, it might seem logical that these top performers, with plenty of money and resources, would be foster parents. Some of them might be, but the fact is, these people who have reached the pinnacle of their fields were, in fact, raised at some time in their lives in the foster care system.
The foster system is kept at a low profile mainly because they are dealing with kids and the tough situations they have been through. Sometimes, these kids become the people who led off this article, while others are guided by foster parents and families to pick up the pieces of their lives and try to find their way into society. Some are successfully returned to their parents while others are either adopted or age out of the system. Not every story speaks of success, but they all speak of caring and another chance at life.
Today, in Cattaraugus County, 41 kids live in foster care. Is fostering a child something you have ever considered? Folk who foster say they do it because they care about children and feel they can help them. Perhaps they are empty-nesters who raised their own family and feel the desire to use their parenting skills with kids who need them to make them feel safe in a hopeful, nurturing environment. Or they might be a young, single person who feels drawn to help kids. Always, the goal is to reunite the natural family if possible but until then, foster parents endeavor to offer love and stability, while providing for the basic needs of the child. To learn more about what it takes to become a foster parent, please go to Cattaraugus County’s website/social services (https://cattco.org/social-services/foster-parent) and click on the “become a foster parent” link.
According to Jesse Blakesslee, Case Supervisor for Child Welfare in Cattaraugus County, the kids hardest to place are siblings and teens. Imagine being removed from your home and then having to be separated from your siblings. The pain and anxiety are unimaginable. Moreover, it takes a special kind of adult or family to step to the plate to take on a teen who may be emotionally or physically scarred and feels nothing but betrayal.
Here's the good news: Every child in the county in need of emergency housing and family care will be taken care of. Blakesslee assured us that there is presently a pool of 25 individuals or families who have already stepped up to the plate and offered their homes and their open arms for a child in need. They have put in the time for training, had their homes inspected and done all that is necessary to be part of the approved foster parent pool. They are singles (young men and women) grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles, past foster parents turned adopting parents who still find room in their hearts and homes for more. These loving people are straight or members of the LGBTQIA+ community which assures the county team that somewhere, out there, is the perfect fit for every child, be they a ready-to-bloom Cher, Willie Nelson or Alonzo Mourning or any of the hundreds of others who flourish in the system.
So, this is where you come in. There is a meeting coming up at 6:00pm on Tuesday, January 17 at the Bethany Lutheran Church (6 Leo Moss Drive, Olean - next to the County Building) where would-be fosters, or those interested in finding out more about the program are invited to attend. You may call Jesse Blakesslee direct at 716-701-3565 for further information (or encouragement) or go to the above noted website. Check it out. Who knows, you may find your calling and make a huge difference in a child’s life. We know they need you, but … perhaps, you need them?