Hoping for homes

Billeigh is like any other second-grader who likes playing with Barbies and watching SpongeBob.

The brown-eyed 7-year-old's favorite restaurant is McDonald's, and she loves shopping at Wal-Mart. In her Blanchard Elementary School Christmas program last week, she played Mrs. Santa Claus.

But Jean Ann McFarland, the woman Billeigh calls "mommy," has only been raising her for two and half months.

McFarland became interested in becoming a foster parent a year ago.

"I've always loved children, so I looked into it and started taking classes," said McFarland, who works at Trinity Lutheran Early Learning Center.

Billeigh is the second foster child McFarland has had living with her.

She is also one of a growing number of foster children in Southeast Missouri. There are more than 120 living in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties. In 2000, there were 100 children from the three counties placed into foster care during the year.

At the same time, the number of licensed foster homes is down, said Linda Hodges, a family resource development specialist with the Department of Social Services Children's Division.

In 2000, there were 120 licensed homes in the three-county area. Now that's down to 63, with 23 in Cape Girardeau County, where the majority of children placed into care come from.

When a foster child is brought into Hodges' office, she tries to place the child in a home within his own school district and with a family of the same race.

"If there isn't a home available, we can't take them home with us, so we'll keep them in the office till we find them a home," she said. "Sometimes we're in here late into the night making calls to find these kids a home."

To become a registered foster home, Hodges said, a nine-week class on foster parenting is required.

The classes teach foster parents how to help children deal with the loss of their family, positive discipline techniques and ways to deal with developmental issues.

"A lot of people think these kids are going to be like their nieces or nephews, but they're not," Hodges said. "Some of these kids have serious neglect issues."

Hodges said the next session of foster parent classes will be in March.

Currently, 40 people are interested in becoming licensed. But that doesn't translate into 40 new foster parents.

"We'll start out with this list of 40, then half will show up for the classes and that number will slowly drop," she said. "Out of those 40, we'll end up with about four foster homes."

Foster care is temporary because a majority of foster children are able to go home once their parents correct the situation that caused the child to be removed.

McFarland doesn't know how long she'll have Billeigh, whose birth mother is dealing with drug problems, and she doesn't like to think about it.

"I don't dwell on the fact that Billeigh may go back with her real mother tomorrow," McFarland said. "You just don't know. I take it one day to the next."

Aleada Curry, of Cape Girardeau, has been a foster parent for almost 18 years, and she said it's hard not to get attached to the children.

Her husband, Jesse, was licensed as a foster parent five years ago, after the couple got married.

"I've had to leave the house a couple times when I knew the kids were leaving," Jesse said.

At times, children don't want to leave.

"They'll hold onto my leg and cry when it's time for them to go," Curry said.

Along with raising her own two children, Tomorra, 24, and Travis, 18, Curry has taken 22 foster children into her home over the years.

"If I could build a big house in my backyard, I would take in as many children as I could," she said.

For the past three years, Khyrin, 8, and Derrick, 12, have been living with the Curry family. Khryin is originally from the Ste. Genevieve area and at the time he was placed into foster care, there were no available licensed homes in Khryin's school district.

"Each time the division is unable to keep the child near his home, the child suffers more and more losses," Hodges said. "A wide variety of foster parents are needed to help make this matching process more effective."

Inside the city limits of Cape Girardeau, children placed in foster care come from all school districts; yet there is only one foster home in the Clippard district. Alma Schrader has three, Franklin four, Jefferson six and Blanchard nine.

Many of these homes are already full, Hodges said.

While McFarland is a new foster parent, she already knows this is a job she'll be continuing as long as she's able.

"It's very rewarding," she said. "Knowing there are children out who need someone to help them. It takes a lot of energy, but it's definitely better than I thought."

jfreeze@semissourian.com