Email this page  Print this page  del.icio.us  digg

Looking for a good match

If you want to be a real Christmas angel, think about becoming a foster parent - the need is critical

Yvette, who will turn 18 this month, has lived with several foster families since she entered foster care at age 11, but none of them have been Hispanic. It's hard for the Mexican-American teen to explain exactly what she missed by not being matched with a family who shared her cultural heritage - familiar foods, music, traditions and losing most of her ability to speak Spanish, which was her first language.

She's quick to say gratefully, "I love my family," about the foster parents that she's lived with for more than a year, but adds, that "it just would have been nice" to be placed with a Latino family.

Yvette will soon be moving out on her own but the 3,400 or so Latino kids who have been separated from their birth parents because of abuse, neglect or abandonment will likely be placed in temporary non-Hispanic foster homes if they are not taken in by relatives. Others will be placed in group homes if foster homes can't be found for them.

Agencies which contract with the state to recruit and train foster families have long struggled to find enough foster homes in general and say there's an even greater shortage of Hispanic families.

"There definitely is a need for, not necessarily Spanish-speaking, but Hispanic foster and adoptive families because approximately 33 to 34 percent of kids in out-of-home care are Hispanic," says Barb Trella, director of recruitment and training for Phoenix-based Aid to Adoption for Special Kids (AASK). There are a total of nearly 10,000 kids of all ethnicities in temporary out-of-home care in Arizona.

Dennis Ichikawa, director of state strategies and field offices for Casey Family Programs in Arizona, says the issue is especially important since Hispanics are the state's fastest-growing demographic and Hispanic children are placed in foster care at a higher rate than White children, .52 percent compared to .4 percent as of September 2005.

Trella, whose agency runs a program in Spanish-speaking churches called Una Iglesia, Un Niño to recruit more Latino foster and adoptive parents, says, "If we can find a culturally-appropriate placement for a child then it's extremely important that we try to do that."

Of course, "you don't have to match race or culture to provide a safe home for a child," says Liz Barker Alvarez, spokeswoman for the state Department of Economic Security, which oversees the foster care system. Many times, there are other issues that take precedence, including keeping siblings together or special medical needs. "All of this information gets taken into account to decide which home can best meet the needs of the child," Barker Alvarez says.

The state has made it a priority to try and keep kids with their parents through in-home monitoring and services, or to place kids with relatives if needed. But increasing the number of foster care homes is also a goal. "We need all the homes we can get so we can find the best fit for all our kids," says Ann Carver, DES home recruitment coordinator.

"In theory, it's nice to have multiple choices (of foster homes)," agrees Brenda Tomlin, regional director for Arizona's Children Association. "But in reality sometimes there are just not enough homes available and you can't make matches" based on heritage, religion or language.

Agencies like hers hope that the state's recent focus on recruiting foster homes in neighborhoods with the highest rates of removals will help.

Hispanic families who have already become foster parents may make the best recruiters.

Glendale residents Pauline and Albert Saiz had often talked about being foster parents and over a year ago they decided to take in distant relatives, an infant and his 1-year-old brother, who were living in separate foster homes. The couple never had kids of their own but raised a niece and two nephews when Pauline's sister was unable to care for them. Now, as officially licensed foster parents, Pauline says she didn't think twice about going through the diaper-and-bottle stage all over again. "It has been so rewarding. If we had a bigger house I would take in more," she says.

Billy and Ivonne Escobar knew exactly what they were getting into when they became foster parents two years ago. Billy worked in a group home for two years and decided that it "wasn't right for kids to grow up in the system."

Their Peoria home already was busy with two boys of their own, 14-year-old Kevin and 10-year-old Jeffrey, but they've made room for three foster children. At foster family events such as an annual Christmas party, they've noticed that there are few Hispanic parents but plenty of Hispanic children. They hope to help by doing their own recruiting - Ivonne's mother, who is in her early 50s, is now in the process of becoming a foster parent.