LETTERS: FOSTER CARE PROVIDES CARING HOMES

To the editor:

We have been reading the paper and watching TV with great interest concerning the plight of the Shepherd's Cove Children's Home at Gordonville. We think it is wonderful that someone has come to their aid. There is a great need for foster homes in our county.

We must, however, take strong exception to some of the statements that have been made, including the statement that "if this home fails, the children will be put into the system." They are in the system. The system is what rescued them out of whatever they were in, and the system gave them to the Bellews. Should they leave that home, they will be in good hands.

The statement that the children are being housed there because they have nowhere else to go is just simply not true. There are 52 licensed foster homes in Cape Girardeau County, and from those a good home would be found for them. They certainly would not be "on the street" as was stated. To suggest such a thing is a slap in the face to the excellent way our Division of Family Services operates in Cape Girardeau County.

There are some profound differences between Shepherd's Cove Children's Home and the other 51 foster homes. Ours do not have catchy names. A church didn't build a house for us. Ours are not furnished by donations from a local company. Our homes are not payment free. Should we get behind on our payments, it is unlikely the paper and TV station will publicize our plight or that someone will step forward and bail us out.

Most of our homes are in the $100,000-or-below range, not $300,000. The children do well in our homes. They are loved and cared for as well as if they were in a church-owned homed. The goal of each of the 52 homes is to give the children a safe, loving, nurturing home. The state, after much training and screening, licenses people, not buildings. Should the people move, the license and children go with them.

DALE NELSONCape Girardeau County Foster Parent Association

Jackson