An Extended Family : Brea Couple Have Been Foster Parents to 195 Infants and Toddlers During the Last 29 Years, and They Have No Plans to Stop

At 76, Charles Powell still wakes up at night to feed a crying infant or change a diaper. So does his wife, Patricia, 72.

Nothing odd about that, Charles Powell says. Except they have been doing it for the past 29 years, and for infants not even related to them. Since 1964, Charles and Patricia Powell have been foster parents to 195 infants and toddlers.

“I guess you could say we love kids,” said Charles Powell as he chuckled recently and watched Patricia Powell feed the couple’s 195th foster child, a 2-month-old Latino boy, in the living room of their Brea home.

The Powells have lived in the three-bedroom house on Maple Street since 1959, and for most of that time they have opened it and their hearts to abused, neglected and, in growing numbers, drug-addicted babies, all referred to the couple by the Orange County Social Services Agency.

In recognition of their work, the Orange County Board of Supervisors honored the Powells and three other families last week with its Foster Child Advocacy Awards, given each year to outstanding foster parents.

“Theirs is the ultimate in volunteer work,” said Barbara J. Labitzke, foster home coordinator for the Social Services Agency. “It’s a 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year job.”

The Powells were also honored for their efforts in advocating therapy and specialized care for children with special needs, such as drug-addicted babies, she said.

And while it is unusual to see folks of the Powells’ generation serving as foster parents, age is not a consideration for agencies who place children, Labitzke said. Parents must be in good health, financially stable and able to offer a good home atmosphere.

Even before diving into the foster-care cycle, the Powells were no strangers to children. They have two daughters of their own, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The daughters, LaVonne and Barbara Lee, now both in their 50s, married within six months of each other in the mid-1960s and left home.

To fill the empty nest, the Powells first volunteered as foster parents through the Children’s Home Society, a nonprofit adoption agency in Santa Ana. Since 1981, they have been working with the Social Services Agency.

At first, their daughters opposed their plans to become foster parents, Patricia Powell said, “because they thought we were too old to be taking extra family.”

“But I said, ‘Do you want us to be sitting on a rocking chair all day?’ ” she said.

Charles Powell, a retired letter carrier who appears fit and trim despite three surgeries, including a heart bypass in 1975, said they decided to take in infants because they wanted to stay busy.

‘Older people are missing a good thing if they don’t care for younger people,” he said. “Too many men also feel it’s unmanly to change diapers. It’s ridiculous. There’s no better feeling in the world than to care for a child.”

“And, it makes us feel young,” added Patricia Powell.

For their 50th wedding anniversary, one of the gifts the couple got was a baby stroller.

During the years the Powells have taken children ranging in age from a few weeks to 19 months. Some stayed for just a few weeks, others for several months. They usually take only one child at a time, but there have been times when they took twins or brothers and sisters, Patricia Powell said.

One boy, Billy, who was born with severe defects, stayed the longest--more than two years, Charles Powell said.

Letting the children go, either back to their parents or to families who want to adopt them, is always hard.

“They become part of the family,” Patricia Powell said. “It’s sad when they leave us. But we know other children are coming.”

The Powells will continue to care for children “as long as our health allows us,” she said.

Foster Care’s Diverging Trends During the last five years, the number of foster children in the county has increased by about one-third, while the number of homes available has steadily decreased.

Children 1992-1993*: 3,366

Homes 1992-1993*: 584 * Through Febuary

Whom to Call To be a foster parent: (714) 937-2330 (Foster Care Information), (714) 542-1147 (Children’s Home Society) or 1-800-426-2233 (Southern Area Foster Care Effort) will help residents of Southern California. Source: Social Services Agency; Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times