FOSTERING RELATIONSHIPS: STATE PLEAS FOR MINORITY FOSTER PARENTS

There are some people who believe the race of a child and his family matters when it comes to foster care, no matter what the federal government says.

Federal law requires that foster and adoptive children be placed in foster families quickly and without consideration of race, color or national origin.

But Cape Girardeau foster parent Sharon Crawford and others believe transplacement -- when foster children are placed in homes outside of their race or ethnicity -- separates children from their culture, extended family and activities at a time when they need them most.

"They won't know anything about how we act or the things we do or why we do them, and I think that's sad," Crawford said.

Crawford is one of only 22 black foster parents in Cape Girardeau County who are caring for 33 black children in foster care. Another 28 black children have been placed in the homes of white foster families.

In all, 106 children live with foster families in Cape Girardeau County.

Transplacement primarily affects minority children because there is a national shortage of minorities actively working as foster parents. Crawford, who became a foster parent in 1991 after watching her mother, Lillie Watson, go through the process, has never kept a white child. And Watson said she has cared for just one white child in her 12 years as a foster parent.

However, the two have kept as many as five children each during their tenure as foster parents.

"I asked about it once, and they told me the white kids did not want to live with any of the black families," Watson said. "With the black children, I don't think they have any choice."

Delia Spillers, a foster parent for the past three years, said she originally became a foster parent after her goddaughter was taken from her birth home.

"We've got such a shortage of minorities in the county that they're always calling, and when they call, they need you," Spillers said.

Specific areas

Lynn Cairnes, Division of Family Services director for the county, said she would like to increase the number of foster parents in the Blanchard, Franklin and Jefferson school attendance areas, where the bulk of the county's black foster children live.

And when the children are taken out of black family homes, moved out of their neighborhood and placed with a white family, it means even more change for children whose lives already are in upheaval, Cairnes said.

"Of course we could use many more minorities as foster families," Cairnes said. "Sometimes we have to weigh one thing against another if there's something we may think is a priority as opposed to the race of the foster parents."

Transplacement has become common since 1997, when the federal government enacted the Multiethnic Placement Act, which establishes penalties for agencies that delay a placement based on race.

"We look at every child's placement based on that child's specific needs," said Christine White, DFS state adoption program manager. "Certainly race and ethnicity would be factors we would consider in placement, but I wouldn't say that that's the primary factor."

White said having more minority foster families would improve care for minority children in the system because "it is helpful for our families to understand the kids that they're serving." But while there is a definite need for minorities to provide foster care, she said, there is an overall need for people from a variety of backgrounds and areas so children can be understood and close to home.

Transplacement trials

When minority children are placed with white foster families, their care can present special challenges. Issues such as caring for hair and grooming, finding community resources, understanding extended family dynamics and even dealing with racial discussions often must be addressed because of cultural differences.

"I think with the younger kids it's really not an issue until they hit junior high. Then it becomes more of an issue as far as their own self-esteem and identity," said Amy Peukert, a foster parent whose family has cared for several black and bi-racial children in recent years.

Another concern Peukert has noticed is the external pressures a transplaced child can face. When everyone in a foster family has the same skin complexion, they don't get noticed when they go out in public, she said.

"It's just amazing to me the things people feel like they can come up and say. They'll ask if the kids are mixed or what country they are from," said Peukert.

Cairnes said DFS tries to help white foster families caring for children of other races. There is literature to help them understand the physical needs of black children, and the families often develop relationships with other black foster parents so they can have help when necessary.

And statewide, DFS officials are using a self-awareness study created by the North American Council of Adoptive Children that helps identify concerns of minority foster children and their foster families.

Recruiting minorities

But regardless of the awareness tools, support groups, and other resources used to lessen the effects of transplacement, many people agree that improved recruitment and retaining of minority foster families is the best way to help minority children in foster care.

"They are here. They are qualified, but I don't think they know a lot about it," said Spillers.

Cairns agreed. She said there has been little success locally in getting minorities involved in foster parenting, despite recruitment efforts at the Family Resource Center and in predominantly black churches. She attributed the lack of success to several factors.

"So many black families have long been a standing resource for their own extended families, so they're already parenting children that are not their own children," Cairnes said. "I also think some people may think our expectations are too strict."

Toni Oliver of College Park, Ga., who is co-chair of the foster care and adoptions committee of the National Association of Black Social Workers, said agencies often fail in recruiting minorities because they take a hit-and-miss approach to recruitment.

"Typically what happens is agencies belabor the fact they don't have enough African-American parents, but they're not doing what it takes to get them," said Oliver. "Things that are done without looking at what the overall goals and objectives are don't seem to work."

To become a foster parent in Missouri, adults must pass a criminal background check and series of home visits, and complete 27 hours of training. Home ownership or high incomes are not a priority, Cairnes said. Families are paid between $227 and $307 plus clothing assistance for each child they keep.

Crawford said she better understands the need for minority role models each time she takes in another child.

"It's so many of our children in the system," Crawford said. "Some of them you bond to, some of them you don't. But they all need us.".

Crunching the Numbers

Missouri

12,264 children in foster care.

59 percent white.

40 percent black.

1 percent unknown.

Cape County

106 children in foster care.

58 percent (61) black.

42 percent (45) white.

Get Involved

Successful foster families must meet five basic competencies:

• Protect and nurture children.
• Meet children's developmental needs and address= developmental delays.
• Support relationships between children and their families.
• Connect children to safe, nurturing relationships intended to last a lifetime.
• Work as a member of a professional team.

Basic requirements

Home study.

Criminal background check.

27 hours training.

Upcoming training

The next evening training will be held from 6-9 p.m. each Tuesday beginning May 15 for nine weeks.

The next morning training will be held from 9 a.m. until noon each Thursday beginning May 17.

For more information, call (573) 290-5357.