FOSTER PARENTS HONORED AT BANQUET

JACKSON -- About 100 people were expected at the annual banquet honoring 48 Cape Girardeau foster parents Thursday night at the Jackson Knights of Columbus Hall.

These foster parents take as many as six abused children into their homes when the children have been separated from their biological parents by the state.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel, the guest speaker at the banquet, said prior to the banquet that it will take people like these to curb some of the problems society faces.

Hetzel said research has shown that foster parents have a direct impact on the lives of troubled youths through mentoring.

"Mentoring is probably one of the most effective intervention programs that is available to communities these days, and being a foster parent is a way of mentoring," Hetzel said.

He said you can never tell what impact a person will have on another, but "positive attitudes are contagious." Positive role models, the kind provided by many foster parents, allow an abused child to learn a positive approach to problems.

"A cycle of violence among child abusers exists because it is learned behavior," Hetzel said. "People have a way of disciplining their children the way they were disciplined."

Hetzel, who has worked with abused children since his days in the military, said police departments cannot handle abuse cases by themselves. It takes the efforts of a group of people for justice to be done with the least amount of trauma to the children. He said in many cases foster parents provide a relief valve for victims.

"They provide an opportunity for a child to be in a safe, caring environment while the agencies are trying to resolve the problems that the child may be facing," Hetzel said. "I think you have to be a special person to want to give of yourself, your family and your time to be a foster parent."

Lynne Cairns, a children's services supervisor at the Division of Family Services, said there are 80 children in Cape Girardeau County who have been removed from abusive families and placed in foster care. She said some families care for as many as six children at a time.

Cairns said family services would not be able to take these children out of abusive situations, whether it is a permanent removal or until the state is certain the abuse has ended, if not for foster parents.

"A lot of these kids have emotional problems and other ones are honor students. We have the whole range," Cairns said.

She added that some of these children turn around their schoolwork in the midst of a year after being removed from a detrimental household and placed into foster care.

Cairns said family services is always looking for foster parents and provides training for those who volunteer. Foster services range from full-time parenting to weekends with the children.

To volunteer contact Cindy Stone at 290-5800.