‘A sense of normalcy’: Clark County hosts egg hunt, resource fair for foster families
As foster kids ran with their Easter baskets to pick up eggs laying on the grass of the amphitheater at the Clark County Government Center on Friday afternoon, their foster parents got a chance to see the many resources available to them, like free college tuition for foster children.
Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II and the county’s Department of Family Services hosted the Spring Egg Hunt and Family Resource Fair, where a county spokesperson said over 400 foster families RSVP’d.
“This would not be possible without the partnership of all our friends who are making sure that we do everything that we can to make sure that children have a safe home and are cared for by parents who are going to show them so much love,” McCurdy said to the crowd.
Kids got to eat tacos, jump in a bouncy house, collect Easter eggs and chase each other at Friday’s event.
Events like these give foster children a sense of normalcy while they’re going through a rough time, according to Jill Morano, the director of the Department of Family Services. The events also show foster parents that they’re not on their own and that there’s a community they can participate in.
Wendy Belton, a foster mother of four, said this event means a lot to the kids and helps save families money.
‘Thrive, rather than survive’
There is currently a high need for foster parents in Clark County as numbers continue to decline.
Roughly 15 years ago, there were more than 1,300 foster parents. Today, there are only 860 foster parents for 3,300 kids in the foster system, according to Marano.
“Our goal is that every child is able to have a foster home and we don’t have to have children living in shelters,” she said. “We need about 500 or so more foster homes to adequately meet their needs.”
Since 2009, the funding for DFS has remained the same, but this legislative session the department is proposing a change in its budget for additional funding as the cost of living has gone up across the country.
When a child is in foster care, their biological parents are working with the courts to try and get their kids back. The parents get more of a sense of motivation when they can arrange times where they can see the kids while in foster care, department spokeswoman Holly Kelsven said.
It is less traumatic and preferred for a child to live with a relative over a foster parent, also known as a foster kinship, according to Anita Flores, a case worker and lead for the county’s Foster Parent Champion program.
But those in foster kinship families don’t get the same benefits as those in foster care, especially if the guardian is not licensed to be a foster parent, according to Michelle Rupe with Foster Kinship, a nonprofit that helps connect kinship families with resources.
“They love their family and want to take care of their family but don’t have the amount of money to take care of them,” Rupe said. “Have them thrive, rather than survive.”
Clark County residents interested in becoming a foster parent can visit ClarkCountyFosterCare.com for more information.
Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0350. Follow @jimi_writes on Twitter.
