‘Huge, Crazy Family’ Fosters Stability

Until the 11th year of their marriage, Bob and Debra Smith had a typical American family: two children, church every Sunday, evenings of watching “Little House on the Prairie.”

All that changed in 1985, when they decided to take in a foster teen-ager on probation at Juvenile Hall. Then they took in another, and another, and yet another. Soon they had eight children in all and were forced to move into a five-bedroom home in Irvine. Now they aren’t even your average foster parents.

“People think we’re nuts but we like it a lot,” said Debra Smith, 38. “. . . It was weird, really weird how it happened. We never expected it. But we just like kids.”

Besides the Smiths’ two children by birth--Matt, 15, and Amy, 17--their household now includes Tim, 12; John, 16; Ed, 17; Paul, 17; Tony, 17; and Jim, 18. All of the foster children (who cannot identified by last name because of privacy laws) have been on probation for offenses ranging from car theft to running away from home.

The Smiths offer the teen-agers stability and a traditional family setting--something the youths have lacked after living off and on with a relative or other foster parents. The Smiths eat dinner or breakfast together as much as possible, take Christmas pictures and plan family outings.

The Smiths are not strict but they do have house rules. When youngsters break curfew or fail to clean up the kitchen, they must pay $1 to the “buck jar.” At the end of the month, those with no violations are placed in a drawing to win the contents. The winner collected $115 last month.

“Our motto here is, ‘We’re not going to kick you out,’ ” Debra Smith said. “ ‘You’re going to have to run away.’ ” Some children, at first, test the rules, she said. “They want you to prove that you won’t kick them out.”

The Smiths can feel the pinch in their pocketbooks. Grocery bills average almost $300 weekly, vacations are rare and, on a night last spring, there were five young people to send to the prom. Raising foster teen-agers has been enlightening.

“Bob and I were the perfect family,” Debra Smith said. “We were sheltered in this little world. We didn’t even allow rock ‘n’ roll music. Now I could tell you how to break into a house and all about condoms.”

For the past four years, Debra Smith has volunteered to coordinate training of new foster families. The parents are trained to teach the youngsters about birth control and how to balance a checkbook, plus other skills needed for the teen-agers to eventually live on their own.

“The challenge is to find what the kids’ needs and talents are,” said Bob Smith, 37, an operations manager for a products distribution company. “You don’t try to mold them into what you want them to be.”

Although they still live at home, Jim and Tony have diplomas and jobs, one step away from being independent.

“I’ve grown up everywhere,” Jim said. “This has been the best place I have ever lived. Here I don’t have to worry about people hitting me, cussing at me. I never thought there would be this huge, crazy family to live with.”

Debra Smith, 38

Occupation: Homemaker

Robert Smith, 37

Occupation: Sales distributer

Organization: Serve as foster parents for youths on probation at Juvenile Hall.

Address: Orange County Juvenile Justice Building. 301 The City Drive, Orange, Calif. (714) 935-6582 or 935-6539.