So…I follow many different people and organizations on social media, most of which address topics related to foster care and adoption. Probably no real shock there. One in particular creates memes specific to foster care. And it shared a meme the other day which read,...
Now, some of you might be thinking about the fact that it used to be (several decades ago) foster parents could just stay at home and take care of children and receive their per diems, which also covered their own living expenses; that’s often the reason why you’d...
Every year hundreds of thousands of teens age out of the foster care system. So how and why does this happen? To be honest, there’s not a clear, concise or easy answer for why so many children age out of care, but here are just a few. Sometimes the cases begin when a...
One question I sometimes get is: “How do kids come into care?” In other words, “How does Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) know when to check in on a family?” Well, there are different ways, such as when police are called to a home (which may be about drugs,...
I’d like to take the next few weeks to discuss some of the facts of foster care about which you might not be aware. Today, I’ll start with the number one reason kids come into care: neglect. Neglect of a child occurs when their basic needs are not adequately met, and...
In my last post, I encouraged foster parents to be understanding and patient as a child adapts to their new environment; because they will be exposed to a variety of new experiences. But today, I want to talk about another (albeit less common) phenomenon in terms of...