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GAMECOCK LXXIV, No. WfTo^ University of South Carolina Thursday April 15, 1982 .. - ,jgaaSi^^^^SB^^BEaPi?% - K&. '/as.;js^$&<-. oAfcwJ jWpj^W^B < 4^il Mark Ericson of Stud^iit Affairi wheelchair rapp in frnnf nf Rhcc - --- V??? VI IVUkl^ Handicap Awareness Day yesterds Foster Paren By LAURA HUBBARD Staff Writer Betty Moore is 49 years old. Her husband Charles is 51. Together, they have cared for 19 children in the past three years. The Moores are two of fifteen foster parents in Columbia associated with the Children's Bureau of South Carolina. "These people are willing to give of their time and of their nomes, ana tney don't feel put upon. They help with recruitment and training of new foster parents. They are more than willing to do anything we ask them to do. And this enables us to grow," said Linda Cox, foster care coordinator for the bureau. Some children stay with the foster parents for a week, others for years. The main objective of the bureau's foster parent program is to provide a temporary home for infants and children between the time they are released for adoption by their parents and are placed in a permanent home by the agency. Children with handicaps or who have brothers and sisters are harder to place and therefore may remain in foster care longer than the average nine to 10 da vs. Marion Atkins, 46, has two children of her own, and has been a foster parent for 17 years. "My parents were foster parents in New Jersey for over 25 years. They were into longterm foster care," she said, "But that leads to an identity crisis in the children. "This led to our commitment to being involved in working with that which was pre-adoption ? always working toward preparing the child for a permanent home. It carries a very different and difficult responsibility." The responsibility involved, she said, is "acceleration of the bondage process." Foster parents provide a family environment for the infant at a time when the infant needs to b?gin identifying with a mother figure. The attachment the infant develons to the foster mother is transferred to the adopting parents. if:^ -*.j-:--':-:- '""_!y^f-^lA< ^"- >a%<^ y:- B|^H^Hk^^^^^HH-V:: 1 m ;~v*** MjB WSm J s is in the home stretch the pho?o?by mikc usher ell House. This was an event in *y. its Open Homes Other responsibilities include providing food, clothing, medical care and "space" for the child or infant. Cox said, "Foster parents are not in it for the money." "Foster parents get $4 a night for keeping a child. Sometimes we will pay them more for a child with very special needs, but it's not much. "Out of that $4, they provide formula, diapers, a crib, closet space and clothes. They must meet our standard that each child have his own bed and his own space. Some of the foster parents buy car seats and toys for the children. "We can only give them the basics," she said. "We keep supplies on hand at all times," Mrs. Moore said. "We have everything for boy babies and for girl babies. We havfi milk nn hand at all timpc " She said they are notified of an arrival only one to two days in advance. Most foster parents have children of their own, and many have adopted children who first came into their homes through the foster parent program. Barbara Shuler, 43, is the mother of four. Two of these children she gave birth to, and two she adopted after becoming a foster parent. "1 wouldn't be a foster mother unless I had a husband who loved the same thing. I'm hoping to adopt more children, as many as they'll let me. "I enjoy having children with special needs. My youngest has brain damage, he's blind and has multiple handicaps. Today he walked for the first time. His doctor couldn't believe it," she said. Shuler is in the process of adopting a two-and-a-half yearold boy. Atkins is the mother of two teenagers. She said being a foster family is something they've gh)wn up with. "We have babies one at a time, with no more than six to eight weeks between babies. My children have grown up with it and are verv sunnortivp nf nnr h#?inc n family know that's where it's at." Atkins prefers the term "Attendants of Tender Loving j - i i >*?m Wffl I Dr. Dale Rivers of engineering and Dr Vander Kolk of education race. ? Faculty Sorority V/C^^v^ ^ ^ n;AMM/v w ?11 - lyiauuc u, miss wneeidiBir South Carolina, and Ginger Walsh, a member of Students For Accessibility. ?To Children Care" to foster parents. "We are not fostering children. We are a child's parents while he is with us." Atkins said her own children are "very, very helpful and very involved." "I would stack our children against any young mother in ability to give child care." Cox said the bureau is not very specific in its guidelines for foster parents. "They need to be between 21 and 60 years old, and they need to live in the Richland Lexington county areas Decause this is where we're located. "They shouldn't have more than one preschool age child at home, and we need mothers who are at home fulltime. The infant needs to be able to attach to that one mother. We do use some single parents. "We are basically looking for parents who love children and are willing to give of themselves," she said. Cox said most prospective foster parents are introduced to the program by other foster parents. New foster parents receive training from the Children's Bureau. "We run them through an educational training program that consists of four sessions covering all topics in the foster parent handbook: the rights and resDonsibilities of fnetor parents, attachment to the baby, infant stimulation, and working with the birth parents. "When we bring them in we assume they're going to be good foster parents and we help give them the skills. We visit their homes, and they must pass fire and health inspections. Then training continues monthly September through April," Cox said. During a child's stay with foster parents, the foster parents keep a "Life Book" containing picture of the child, the name his mother gave him before releasing him for adoption, and pictures of the foster parents. She said it is not easy to let a child go. "You can't be a mother and not care. It hurts," she said. The Moores are in the process of adopting a two-year-old boy who was under their care for 14 months. "Now that 1 have John to go home to, it's a lot easier," she said.