The need for foster parents in Cayuga County is heavy no matter the time of year, but November - National Adoption Month - highlights that need the most.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
The Albanese family, from left, Bonny and her two adopted daughters, Allyson, 18, and Amber, 15, speak to a group of prospective foster parents at the Cayuga County Office Building on Thursday night. Bonny and her husband, Peter, have fostered about 130 children while adopting eight and having three of their own.
The Albanese family, from left, Bonny and her two adopted daughters, Allyson, 18, and Amber, 15, speak to a group of prospective foster parents at the Cayuga County Office Building on Thursday night. Bonny and her husband, Peter, have fostered about 130 children while adopting eight and having three of their own.
“It's not a job for just anyone; good foster parents are really devoted and accepting,” said Connie Smith, who matches local foster children to foster parents as the Cayuga County Department of Health and Human Services' homefinder.
The current economic hardship hitting families heighten several other hurdles that face potential foster parents. In addition to the attention and resources demanded by the parental role, the children bring their own unique challenges. They may come from abusive, neglectful or substance-abusing homes - and their own behavior may reflect their troubled backgrounds.
To address the needs of the county's foster children - which totals 104 in 2008 so far - the Department of Health and Human Services maintains a large pool of foster parents. Children are sent to homes that can provide them with the right growth environment in hopes of preventing the possibility of another move. Keeping foster children within their school district is another concern.
“We try to make it as non-traumatic as we can,” Smith said. “Coming into foster care is already very traumatic.”
Topping the department's criteria for potential foster parents is their ability to love and commit to children. Candidates must also agree to the state's discipline policy, which prohibits corporal punishment, and pass a background check that includes personal references and a search through the state's Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.
Prospective foster parents then take the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP), a 10-week training program that prepares them for the array of challenges they will face hosting a child. Twenty-one prospective foster parents from 12 families comprised the class that concluded last week.
The lesson foster parents may struggle with most is the imperative to return foster children to the homes of their birth parents.
“The children have a bond to their parents, and you have to respect that,” said Georgianna Caliendo, who recently completed the course.
“You may wonder why you're working to reunite (the children) with their parents, but maybe they'll change,” she added. “You don't know what will happen.”
Learning this goal often alarms foster parents, Smith said. They are also surprised to learn that they are looked at as potential adoptive parents when a child's birth parents and other relatives are ruled out as permanent guardians.
The other major misconception about the foster parent role is the monetary support it entails. The Cayuga County Department of Health and Human Services compensates foster parents for clothing, health care, school supplies and other costs associated with the children they take in. But foster parents seek no extra reward for the service they provide, Smith said.
The overwhelming need for foster parents in Cayuga County motivated Caliendo to volunteer as one.
“I wanted to see what I'd be able to offer this group of children, who are underserved through no fault of their own,” she said. “It's horrendous.”
Caliendo, a 20-year employee of the department, is also a single adult. People unfamiliar with the foster parent program may not realize that singles and non-traditional couples are as eligible as married men and women, she said.
What does qualify foster parents for the role is their ability to promote physical, emotional, social and intellectual growth for the children they would take in. From fellow class members who've already served as foster parents, Caliendo has heard how foster children have grown into their new homes because of the warmth with which they were received.
“They explain how apprehensive they were when the child first arrived,” she said. “You can only be taught so much; you have to rely on yourself and your instincts.”
Like most foster parents who pass through the department's MAPP program, Caliendo will likely wait about half a year before hosting a foster child and learning how she fares in her new role.
“You wait for the phone call that they've found the perfect child,” she said. “That's the call of your life.”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
The current economic hardship hitting families heighten several other hurdles that face potential foster parents. In addition to the attention and resources demanded by the parental role, the children bring their own unique challenges. They may come from abusive, neglectful or substance-abusing homes - and their own behavior may reflect their troubled backgrounds.
To address the needs of the county's foster children - which totals 104 in 2008 so far - the Department of Health and Human Services maintains a large pool of foster parents. Children are sent to homes that can provide them with the right growth environment in hopes of preventing the possibility of another move. Keeping foster children within their school district is another concern.
“We try to make it as non-traumatic as we can,” Smith said. “Coming into foster care is already very traumatic.”
Topping the department's criteria for potential foster parents is their ability to love and commit to children. Candidates must also agree to the state's discipline policy, which prohibits corporal punishment, and pass a background check that includes personal references and a search through the state's Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.
Prospective foster parents then take the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP), a 10-week training program that prepares them for the array of challenges they will face hosting a child. Twenty-one prospective foster parents from 12 families comprised the class that concluded last week.
The lesson foster parents may struggle with most is the imperative to return foster children to the homes of their birth parents.
“The children have a bond to their parents, and you have to respect that,” said Georgianna Caliendo, who recently completed the course.
“You may wonder why you're working to reunite (the children) with their parents, but maybe they'll change,” she added. “You don't know what will happen.”
Learning this goal often alarms foster parents, Smith said. They are also surprised to learn that they are looked at as potential adoptive parents when a child's birth parents and other relatives are ruled out as permanent guardians.
The other major misconception about the foster parent role is the monetary support it entails. The Cayuga County Department of Health and Human Services compensates foster parents for clothing, health care, school supplies and other costs associated with the children they take in. But foster parents seek no extra reward for the service they provide, Smith said.
The overwhelming need for foster parents in Cayuga County motivated Caliendo to volunteer as one.
“I wanted to see what I'd be able to offer this group of children, who are underserved through no fault of their own,” she said. “It's horrendous.”
Caliendo, a 20-year employee of the department, is also a single adult. People unfamiliar with the foster parent program may not realize that singles and non-traditional couples are as eligible as married men and women, she said.
What does qualify foster parents for the role is their ability to promote physical, emotional, social and intellectual growth for the children they would take in. From fellow class members who've already served as foster parents, Caliendo has heard how foster children have grown into their new homes because of the warmth with which they were received.
“They explain how apprehensive they were when the child first arrived,” she said. “You can only be taught so much; you have to rely on yourself and your instincts.”
Like most foster parents who pass through the department's MAPP program, Caliendo will likely wait about half a year before hosting a foster child and learning how she fares in her new role.
“You wait for the phone call that they've found the perfect child,” she said. “That's the call of your life.”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
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