Needed: Foster parents for teens; it's a role many more can fill, Louisiana family agency says

Jul. 7--Sarah and Billy Jackson have raised four children and continue to play a part in the lives of their 12 grandchildren and their first great-grandchild. But for nearly a quarter of a century, the Baker couple has opened their hearts and their home to dozens of other children -- teenagers in foster care.

"We stopped counting at 100," Sarah Jackson said.

Jackson said she loves babies, but teens are more vulnerable in a different way. "Teens are closer to being grownups," she said. "We want to try to make a difference in their lives."

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services believes there are more people like the Jacksons who would shine in the role of foster parents for teens and they are on the hunt to find them.

The state agency has launched a recruiting campaign to find more foster parents with help from the national Annie E. Casey Foundation, which works to improve the lives of disadvantaged children.

The need for foster parents for teens is greater than ever.

Louisiana joined 28 other states this year in expanding foster care to age 21, a long-sought goal of the state agency and nonprofit groups that advocate for children.

Under legislation passed in May, teens who turn 18 in foster care and meet certain criteria -- are in high school, community college, college or a vocational-technical program or work 80 hours a month or have a medical condition -- can sign up to continue in the foster care program for three additional years.

Before the new legislation, "on their 18th birthday, we lost custody," said Michelle Faust, agency foster and adoptive manager. "They may have still been in high school and often didn't know what to do next."

The department, she said, doesn't want children to leave foster care without having made the type of connections that are common to most people: someone to call when they get a new job, meet the love of their life or even when their washing machine is broken and they need to come home to do laundry.

Faust said she's heard foster teens say they hope their side of the church is filled when they get married some day or that, when they graduate from school, there will be someone in the stands to cheer them on.

"There's a big vacuum for many of them that we can't imagine," she said.

The teen years "are as important a stage in life as infancy and childhood," said Catherine Heitman, director of corporate communications with the Department of Children and Family Services.

"Some people are absolutely brilliant at working with teens and they don't realize it" until they take the chance, she said.

Currently there are about 4,500 children in foster care in Louisiana. Of those, 950 children are teens or preteens in need of care. But there are only 68 nonrelative foster homes, out of about 1,600 foster homes, that are willing to accept older children ages 12 and up.

Most foster parents in the the state, about 52%, care for young children from infancy to age 10.

Sometimes foster parents are hoping to adopt an infant or younger child, which happens in some cases, said Faust, though the primary goal of foster care is reunification with the child's biological family.

Other foster caregivers may be intimidated at the thought of fostering a teen, envisioning drama or attitude, she said.

"They might have more problems than your average teen, but then again they may not," Faust said.

"We have some amazing youth that don't allow any of the adversities they've had hold them back from achieving their dream," she said. "If given an opportunity, a family and a permanent connection, sometimes that's all they need to grow."

When children come into foster care, because they are suffering abuse, neglect or conflict in their own homes, the Department of Children and Family Services first tries to place them with relatives or with close family friends who are well known by the child, those who "might as well be family," Faust said.

Relatives and family friends together make up the largest group of caregivers to teens in foster care in Louisiana. As with all foster parents, they must go through a certification process with the department.

If that isn't possible for the child, case workers turn next to nonrelative foster homes, an option that drops off quickly for teens.

If a foster family can't be found for the child, the next option is one of 23 group homes contracted through the state. Such group homes currently serve 140 youth across the state, but putting kids there can often mean a rough move away from everything the young person has known.

"When there aren't enough families available for teens, the teens must leave their schools, friends, activities and communities," Heitman said.

Every time teens change schools, they can lose out on the equivalent of four to six months of their education, Heitman said, raising the risk that they won't finish high school and end up underemployed or unable to find a job, or even facing homelessness as an adult.

Under its new initiative, the Department of Children and Family Services will be working with Denise Goodman, a national child welfare expert and consultant with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to:

-- Work with foster caregivers to consider placement of teens.

-- Host regional orientation meetings specifically for families interested in providing homes for teens.

-- Provide specialized training for those foster parents caring for teens and develop community supports for those foster caregivers of teens.

"I think states are all struggling to find foster parents, in general," Goodman said, in part because of the changing face of families, with both parents having to work, and the increase in single-family households.

But potential foster parents might also shy away from fostering teens for unrelated, less tangible reasons, she said.

"Everyone has maybe survived their own kids' adolescence and don't want to go through it again," she said.

Or they carry a stereotypical image of teens in foster care.

"Teens are still teens. They struggle to make that transition to adulthood like everyone else," Goodman said.

"I loved fostering teens," she said.

Goodman said she and the Deaprtment of Children and Family Services will be working hard to educate the community about the reality of fostering a teen and the need for it.

"We want to put people in touch with their own adolescence: 'When you were a teen, who was the person who was always there for you, who always had your back,'" she said.

That's who a foster parent can be for a teen, Goodman said.

The Jacksons are currently fostering two teen-aged boys, part of their big, busy Baton Rouge family.

"It helps those children realize that they are blessed," Sarah Jackson said. "I just want them to know they can make a difference."

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