Foster Families Sought for 35 Children in County

The Family Care Resource Center, a specialized foster care program dedicated to helping disturbed children become “healthy, stable, independent adults,” is looking for foster homes for 35 children.

“We are pushing to get 35 children whom we don’t have beds for into homes,” said Sonya Rowe, director of the center, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. The need for finding good homes is crucial, added Margarette Morgan, recruitment consultant, because the children are out of school for summer, which gives them more time to get into trouble.

The center works in conjunction with the county Department of Social Services and Probation and is under the auspices of San Diego Youth & Community Services, which supervises county outreach programs. It was founded in 1976 with a dozen foster homes to serve 14 youths, Rowe said. By 1985, the center had grown to provide 116 homes for 379 youths, ranging in age from 7 to 17.

“Most of the kids we work with are desperation cases. We work with teens who generally have already been through other foster homes and, for some reason, the care failed to turn the kids around,” Rowe said. “These kids need some special attention, extra support and extra counseling.”

She is looking for families with a commitment to care who are willing to spend time working with the children.

A follow-up study of 232 former Family Care Resource Center participants who are now between the ages of 19 and 27 in 1984 shows that 91% are now self-supporting, 85% are in contact with their natural families, and 90% have remained in touch with their foster families.

The center receives an average of $1,135 per month per child from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care fund. This “covers everything except medical expenses and schooling, which the state’s public education system provides at no cost,” Rowe said, adding it also pays for the center’s services.

Some of the services provided at the center include reunification counseling for the youths and their natural families, training in independent living skills for the older teens to prepare them for making it on their own, and individualized in-depth treatment plans to address each youth’s needs.

The center also recruits, certifies, trains and monitors its foster parents.