National Foster Care Awareness Month is recognized in May. According to the El Paso County Children, Youth and Families Trails System Report, a total of 177 children/youth were removed from their biological homes in the county from Jan. 1 to March 31. Of those 177 children, 142 were placed in foster care and 35 in congregate care (group homes, residential treatment facilities, psychiatric institutions and emergency shelters).The Griffith Centers for Children in Colorado Springs provides residential, foster care and foster adoption services. Susy Tucker, foster care director for the center, said Colorado is experiencing a major shortage of foster and adoptive parents.Tucker said people often have misconceptions about foster care. Some people think the children should never return home; others believe that foster families only want to adopt the children and take them away from their biological families. ìIn reality, the system is set up to return the children to their biological family,î she said. ìIf there is an appropriate, safe family they can return to, they need to go home.îPeople think their marital status, gender orientation or identity, their age or education level will prevent them from being able to foster a child, she said. ìIt depends more on whether you want to do it and have the energy to do it,î Tucker said. ìWe donít discriminate against any of these issues; we just want to best serve the kids and the community in any way we can.îShe said The Griffith Center actively recruits within the LBGTQ community. ìThey do very well with the foster children; they understand some of the pain and rejection on a personal level; and, because of that are able to genuinely connect with the kids,î Tucker said. One Colorado, the stateís leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ, is working with them this month to recruit foster parents, she said.Another misconception is that foster parents only do this for the money. Tucker said they are provided with a subsidy, but it isnít enough money to make it worth taking the kids. ìIf the agency is doing their job, they make sure the foster parents can pay their bills and support themselves; they donít place children with a family just so the subsidy can pay their bills,î she said. ìWe have to be vigilant to make sure these kids are safe; and, if we are taking them away from their families, then they better be in a better, safer place in the meantime.îTucker said there are times when children canít return home because the parents choose other behaviors and activities over getting their children back; there are also parents who acknowledge their limitations and let their children go. ìI have seen some parents relinquish their rights Ö that is the best choice because they canít do it,î she said.The process to become a foster parent takes about six months from the initial application to licensure. Tucker said the potential parents donít pay anything for the process; the Griffith Center takes care of the cost, including all the background checks.ìIt blows my mind what these foster parents do for the kids; they are just incredible human beings,î Tucker said. ìThis is not a job, this is their life, this is their home, this is who they are and they take these kids in and love them and treat them as their own.îJennifer Pezzulo, from Colorado Springs, has been a foster parent for three years. She originally wanted to do a private infant adoption but found it to be cost prohibitive. She said she researched the foster agencies in the area and decided on the Griffith; she liked their beliefs and policies. To date, she has fostered three teenagers and has provided respite foster care for young children.Pezzulo said she tries to develop a good rapport with her foster youth by listening, allowing them to cry and talk about anything, without holding judgement. ìI have opened up to the boy Iím fostering now about some of my past traumas; I told him I canít make his disappear, but I can show him the way through it,î she said. ìHeís not having nightmares anymore; heís not running away, has all straight Aís; heís making friends and doing after-school activities.îShe also tries to facilitate a relationship with the biological parents if possible. ìSadly, for the boy I have right now, his siblings were adopted and the adoptive parents wonít let them have contact with each other,î Pezzulo said. ìThe goal of the system is reunification; and, while itís happy when someone gets adopted, itís also simultaneously a tragedy.îShe advises potential foster parents to research, talk to other foster parents and put some thought into why they want to do this. ìMake sure you go into it because you want to walk a journey with the child. You donít know what kind of trauma they have been through, so make sure youíre going into it for the right reason,î Pezzulo said.ìAll the difficulty and hardship aside, if you do this, it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. I am passionate about raising awareness; we need all the homes we can get.î
