Valleywide : New Group Aims to Help Foster Families

Over 14 years, Barbara and Fred Leiner have taken care of more than 250 foster children in their Chatsworth home.

Now they have joined forces with others to create United Community Caregivers, a foster parent group in the San Fernando Valley to help support the more than 400 foster families in the area.

“By just talking to other parents, they can learn other methods of discipline, other methods of therapy,” Fred Leiner said.

The group hopes it will eventually be able to get a grant to offset medical costs for at-risk children not covered by MediCal. Right now, it offers networking, a monthly newsletter, Internet access and the opportunity to share experiences with other caregivers. Barbara Leiner, 50, president of the association, is the editor of the California State Foster Parent Newsletter, chairwoman of the National Foster Parent Internet Assn. and a member of the Department of Children and Family Services Education Initiative Committee.

Fred, 58, a teacher at Chatsworth High School, said it was his wife’s idea to bring foster children into their home.

“My kids were grown, and she wanted to hold a baby,” he said. They currently are foster parents to three children.

To become a foster parent, applicants must be licensed through the state.

With about 60,000 foster children in Los Angeles County, the new group hopes to get the community more involved in helping to provide medical services and other activities for these children.

The group will hold a recruiting drive from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Topanga Plaza, corner of Victory and Topanga Canyon boulevards in Canoga Park. A group meeting is planned at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Chatsworth High School, Room S-83, 10027 Lurline Ave. Membership is $40.

For information, call (818) 998-4461.