Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Foster parents needed in Nevada County area

Wanted: foster parents in Prescott and Nevada County.

There is a serious need for foster parents in the Prescott-Nevada County area, according to Barbara Keaton, juvenile supervisor with the Arkansas Department of Human Service's Children and Family Services division, who spoke to the Prescott-Nevada County Health Alliance recently.

Currently, she said, no children are being placed in Nevada County, and any type of parents can be accepted into the program. "We need people who can keep children over 10-years-old."

Right now, she said, many children 10 and older wind up at residential care facilities and these children don't need to be institutionalized. Instead, they need to be in a home where they can receive proper guidance.

Teenagers, Keaton said, are teenagers, and can be a handful, but the teens needing foster homes aren't bad children, but are in bad situations.

Foster parents, she said, used to be regional. Now, churches are being asked to get at least one family to enter into the foster parent program. "We need people who can keep children overnight."

The idea, according to Keaton, is to place children within 50 miles of their home. A minimum of five families are needed in the Prescott-Nevada County area so training can be done locally.

The training, she said, includes getting a Medicare number, which takes between five and 20 days. This causes problems at times, because some children are in need of medical attention when taken from their homes.

Emergency homes are needed immediately. These are homes where a child or children can be taken on short notice and housed overnight at least. The program also needs homes for respite care and small children.

Keaton said foster parents can refuse to accept children. "We'll work with people. People can be weekend foster parents, but we need people, especially to work with special needs children.

"We need help."

Another need for smaller children, she said, is car seats. Arkansas law states children under the age of six must be in car seats. Keaton said the program does furnish car seats when it places young children, but doesn't have many at this time.

Part of the problem, she added, is the number of small children who are currently in the program. "We've never had this many small children this quick. The state is getting more young children than teens."

Foster homes aren't all that's needed in Nevada County, she said. Adoptive parents are also needed. Four children have been adopted in Nevada County in the last two years.

Normally, Keaton said, there are about 500 children up for adoption in Arkansas, with about 75 per day being adopted. Most families want young children, but there have been adoptions of those up to age 18.

"If we can get five families in Nevada County by April," she said, "we can go training by late April." The training is 30 hours done over a five day period, but can be done at night or on Saturdays. The training covers parenting skills, agency and legal requirements and offers make-up sessions if one is missed.

Keaton said the training is a one-time thing, but families have to have updates of 15 hours a year after being certified.

Those who are 18-years-old in the program, she said, can be placed in the independent living program, where they can work or go to college. The agency will help them get scholarships, and they can stay in the program until they're 23 if they continue their education and stay out of jail.

In the case of teen mothers needing foster homes, the mother and baby must be placed together, Keaton said.