Foster Kids - Foster Care Activities and Progress Report

There's something exciting about getting a progress report. Sure, there are the low points and areas that can be improved, but the best part is seeing where you are doing really well. So with the 2014 third quarter coming to an end, I thought it'd be good to let you see our progress report because many people like to hear good news about foster children. Our success means more kids are moving out of the foster care system and into forever homes.


Fifty-five percent of our time is spent on doing research, international communication, documentation and follow up on active foster child cases. We spend 30% of our time answering inquiries from agencies across the country and working to bring agencies on board so they can start sending us their foster children cases.

Working with county agencies involves a lot of documentation, and preparations can take months before we get their first case. The remaining 15% of our time and energy is spent on marketing, fund raising and administration. Every week we get calls and emails from agencies saying that they just heard about us.


We're in our second year of offering our services pro bono (free) to foster care agencies and non-profits. You may wonder why we offer our services pro bono. Before 2013, when we would get a call from a foster care agency, we would explain our research services along with the cost for our international work. The cost was less than $40 which does not cover the expenses to handle a foster youth case. Yet many agencies often said they didn't have a budget to pay that amount.

Our mission is to make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of foster children and allowing $40 to be a roadblock to helping a foster child isn't acceptable. Therefore in 2013, our organization launched a new program so that foster care agencies could and do get our services for free. Guess what happened? We doubled our case load last year. Guess what’s happening this year? You got it. We have already doubled our caseload and will probably triple it.


Bottom line: many more foster kids are moving out of foster care into forever homes usually with relatives in the U.S. or adoptive foster parents.


How are we doing concerning our caseload? It all depends. Every case is different. We have to point out that we can and do locate family members in just a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, several weeks to a couple of months can often go by while case workers get back to us with their results from our findings. Sometimes, our first effort is successful. Other times we have to launch a new search effort before we find a foster child's relatives.

Presently we have eight active cases. Each case involves three to five people. Our cases average between two to three months. It takes many weeks of time and effort when we have a case where a foster kid's only known relatives live in the mountains with no Internet, telephone or cell reception.


We are fast approaching the tipping point for our organization. We have multiple cases from several states with more agencies finalizing details so they can start sending us their cases. County officials are talking with neighboring counties that have already used our services. We've handled cases in seven states and expect Arizona to be number eight by October.

On the donor side, let's just say that an increase in contributions and volunteers would be outstanding. Supporters are the life blood of our organization and allow us to continue to offer our services pro bono to county agencies.


We are gearing up to launch a crowdfunding project in November. Gia Heller, social media marketing guru, has already offered to support our project. Others such as Star Devi with Spin Digital Publishing have also offered to help us. There are many ways that you, too, can participate and help a foster child.

As anyone in business knows, no matter what your day-to-day activities are, you still have to look at the numbers if you want to survive and thrive. Our goal is to make a lasting change for at least 200 foster youth in 2015. That will require a budget of $100,000. We're very optimistic that when New Year's comes around, we'll be poised to succeed.


Be a part of the solution and volunteer to help get more foster kids into forever homes.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Share your thoughts and ideas below and share this post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog on the state of our present and future foster care efforts.

Read More »

Foster Children - Not Finding a Foster Child's Relatives May Open a New Door

The goal of foster care agencies is to get children out of the system as soon as possible. Foster care statistics show that about half of the foster children removed from their parents end up going back to them after they have received counseling on how to be better parents. For those foster kids who aren't returned to their parents, agencies work to locate adult family members to give these children a forever home. Sometimes another door is opened to help these foster youth.

A case worker with the Durham County Department of Social Services presented our organization with a case where a foster child's birth father was known to be living in Mexico. Cases where one parent lives outside the U.S. are not unusual for us although more often we tend to get cases where a grandparent, uncle or aunt is being sought.

Parents are interviewed as their children enter the foster care system. Sometimes a parent will be uncooperative. Both mothers and fathers have been known to resist offering any information that would help agencies locate the other birth parent. In our experience, mothers are generally the ones that will withhold details about the birth father. We're not going to go into the reasons given by a parent for this lack of cooperation because the one important point is that the children are the ones who end up getting hurt.





Keep in mind that if a foster child isn't returned to their parent(s), it's usually for very good reasons. The parent is now in prison. The parent is a habitual criminal whose lifestyle puts their children at risk on a daily basis. The parent is mentally or emotionally unstable or completely apathetic about their responsibilities again placing their children at risk.


Due to confidentiality, we can only say that the case worker handling this matter had insufficient details about the birth father. Despite the image portrayed in spy shows and movies that government agencies see all and record all, there are still serious limitations to how this plays out in real life including foster youth cases.




(If you are at work, turn down your speakers.)


Our organization provided a report "detailing the information that would be necessary so that a potentially successful family finding effort could be conducted to locate this parent in Mexico." Anthony Poole, the case worker for the foster child, added:

"Unfortunately, we have not been able to obtain any additional details to aid your organization in this case. We appreciate the report that you provided us showing that without further assistance from the child’s mother, no successful family finding can be conducted."

There is still good news even though this foster child's adult relatives cannot be found. Many foster youth spend years in the system because a path was not available for the court or social services to pursue another option. Before an adoption can be initiated, case workers are often court mandated to do everything possible to find and notify a parent.

Our foster youth findings have been accepted by courts across the country as evidence of a thorough effort on the part of agencies to locate a foster child's family members still living in Mexico. By the county coming to us and receiving our report that concluded that no search could be conducted, the agency is now free to ask the court to open the way to adoption.


Everyone wants to see foster kids leave the system sooner than later. Many will go back to the parents they love. Some will stay in foster care and age out. A small percentage will run away while many others will be adopted. Hopefully this child will soon be in a forever home with loving, caring foster parents in part because of our donor-supported foster youth services.

Now let's talk about our next case.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Share your thoughts and ideas below and share this post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog on opening the door for a foster child to be adopted.

Read More »

Foster Children - BBQ Sales Help Foster Kids

National foster kid statistics reveal that there are 400,000 children in U.S. foster care. Colorado is reported to have 4,000 foster children. With hundreds of these kids waiting to be adopted, one couple decided to take matters into their own hands, one bottle of BBQ sauce at a time.


Alison and Andrew Wiltzius had adopted a little 22-month old boy who got the nickname "Bubba." The couple, who live in Windsor, Colorado, decided they could do more to help other foster youth waiting for adoption. So they create Bubba Shane BBQ.

Creating a new food product is no small feat. Yet this couple has succeeded in creating two varieties of the sauce. For now, the BBQ sauce is only sold online. The couple is working with local farmer's markets to get a wider distribution of the product.

During an interview with ABC Channel 7, Alison Wiltzius explained why they started this charitable venture.

"These [foster] kids deserve a taste of home. If you're not called to adoption, but you have a passion for this, everybody eats BBQ. So buy some BBQ sauce and help out."

Certainly having a news segment on ABC should help boost the product's profile. For each bottle sold, these foster parents will donate $1 to a local non-profit, Donate Colorado Kids, that helps with adoptions of foster kids.

Adoption is one of many resources available to help get children out of the foster care system. Other than returning a child to their family, experts agree that finding relatives of foster children is the best solution. Research on kids put in relative placement consistently shows that the children do better across the board not only while they are in school but also once they go out into the world on their own. However, in those cases when family members are unable or unwilling to take in a child relative, adoption is the next best solution.

Like the Wiltzius, we are also looking at ways to help more foster youth. We are in the planning stage of launching a crowdfunding project in the Fall. This will allow people to participate in changing these children's lives forever as we locate family members so more foster children can have a forever home.

Supporting our work will be a little easier than starting a BBQ sauce empire, just maybe not as tasty.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Share your thoughts and ideas below and share this post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog on foster parents making and selling BBQ sauce to help foster youth be adopted.

Read More »

Foster Child - Neglected Foster Kid Found Wandering Streets in Riverside, Ohio

 

Once again there's a story about a foster child gone missing. This time a 7-year-old hungry and barefoot girl was found by a neighbor.


The neighbor, a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, first tried to reach Child Services to report the incident. After half an hour with no response, the mom called the police. The mom told police that the foster child:

"said she’d been out walking the neighborhood all morning [the girl wasn't found until 11:30] and she didn’t have any shoes on and she said she was hungry... her foster mom asked her to leave so she didn’t know where else to go.”

Once the police arrived, they told the mom that this was not the first time that this foster kid had been found alone wandering around the neighbor. The foster home where the child stays had been previously investigated.

Despite the many dedicated and caring foster parents who open their doors to take in children, the majority of these cases of abuse or neglect seem to involve foster children in "foster placement," living with adults who are not related to the child.

One area of deficiency for many foster care agencies is the lack of thorough efforts to locate relatives of foster youth. Experts report that in general foster kids placed with their family members are happier, healthier, have less emotional issues, perform better in school and have higher graduation levels.

One proven solution is for the public and businesses to donate to foster youth services such as Find Families In Mexico, where the sole focus is to locate family members of foster children so these kids can be placed with relatives.


Reporters later spoke with the Montgomery County CPS (Child Protective Services) that explained that this particular foster home was under the management of a Southwest Ohio agency. Much greater accountability needs to be placed on social service agencies.

As taxpayers we count on the billions of dollars spent on foster care to provide foster kids with a place where they will be properly cared for and protected against abuse and neglect. Unfortunately, too many adults are using the system to put money in their pockets while leaving physical, mental and emotional scars on the most vulnerable of our children.

There are no easy, fast solutions, but more pressure must be placed on agencies to comply with federal and state laws that mandate thorough and ongoing efforts to find family members and unite them with their related foster children. Until that happens, more foster children will wander neighborhoods, hungry for both food and love.

Do it for the children,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Share your thoughts and ideas below and share this post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog on another neglected foster child.

Read More »

Foster Children - At-Risk of Abuse by Foster Parents

There are many heart-warming stories about foster parents who selflessly open their homes to foster children. Unfortunately, one foster mom was jailed for abusing her foster child.


Lynn Smith, foster mother to five youths, was arrested because of a video that shows her pushing the head of one of her foster kids into the toilet. Police had been alerted to this and other alleged abuses by an anonymous tipster who wrote:

“She abuses them daily and nobody will do nothing, she withholds food from them and makes them stay in rooms or outside all day. Y’all been there already and the kids are still being abused. This is torture and she needs to be prosecuted.”

Smith had been in jail since June 17 because of a separate incident where she was allegedly shoplifting. She's now out on bail, but  DFAC (Division of Family and Children Services) has removed all five foster kids, ranging in age from 2 to 10, from Smith's home.


You also have to wonder how long this abuse has been going on when the tipster writes, "She abuses them daily." Thank goodness that someone finally decided to take action to ensure the health and safety of these foster youths.

You might think that abusing a foster child is a crime since they are under the protection and care of the government, but you'd be wrong. According to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills:

"DFACs doesn’t allow corporal punishment on any of their foster kids, but that’s not a crime.”

I don't know about you, but last time I looked, forcing a child's head into the toilet didn't fall under any recognized category of punishment for children. This is the type of action we see on TV when someone is interrogating a criminal or terrorist, not children. State agencies have an obligation to ensure that the foster youth under their care are able to live in a home without the fear of abuse: physical, mental or sexual. 


A proven solution is for agencies to invest more time and energy in locating family members of foster children so these kids can be placed with relatives that statistically result in better treatment and a happier, healthy child.


This time foster children were taken out of harm's way not because of the successful monitoring of their living environment by DFAC but because a caring adult saw an abuse and courageously took action. Let's hope that more people will be equally brave so that the next time, it's not a story about abuse but one of the death of a foster child. As a society, we can and must do better.

Do it for the children,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Share your thoughts and ideas below and share this post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog on foster child abuse by foster mother.

Read More »

A Foster Kid's Life versus Hollywood Teen

Once again a young well-to-do teenager has mistaken his plight in life as being equal to that of foster children. While debating with his sister about their family life, Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith, was caught saying ”We have no parents all the misfits are foster kids.”

One former foster child took to writing a response. Michael Price points out that the life of foster youth is vastly different from that for their peers and world's away from the lifestyle of Hollywood kids. Michael talks about moving nine times as a foster child in less than 10 years and always with his clothes in a garbage bag.

Yet although foster children suffer greatly while in foster care, many do make it in life after they age out. Take former Miami Heat star and former foster child Alonzo Mourning, who will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. He credits his success and the man he is today to his late foster mother, Fannie Threet.

Being a foster child is really a life of opposites. Many face a life of instability, homelessness, drugs and prison once they age out of foster care. Yet some foster kids go on to achieve great success, sometimes putting them at the top of their field. I agree with Michael that when this happens, we are given a glimpse into what real courage and inner strength is all about, essentially people at their best.

Jaden will have his own struggles as he becomes a man, but it may be wise not to compare himself to foster children. He just might get upstaged.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Like and follow us on Facebook for more information about foster teens.

Read More »