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Reminder Assistant Editor WEST SPRINGFIELD With thousands of children in foster care in the state of Massachusetts alone the Devereux Therapeutic Foster Care Program is striving to do their part to provide quality foster care for children who have experienced extreme trauma. According to Jessica Taylor, Foster Care Program recruiter, Devereux is the largest non-profit in the United States established for the purpose of "treating children with special emotional and behavioral needs." Devereux works with the Department of Social Services (DSS) to obtain referrals of children from birth to 21 years of age and place them in homes that will meet their requirements. Currently the Devereux office in West Springfield is capable of placing 75 children but only have over 40 children placed in their foster homes. The office is now looking for all types of families that are willing to help children in need of a safe, quality environment. "The foster homes that we have are more skilled than what DSS has," Taylor said. "Ninety percent of the kids are sexually abused and 70 percent or higher have been witness to domestic violence." Taylor added that Devereux is always seeking candidates that wish to become foster parents, especially nontraditional families including single-parent homes and same-sex parent homes. "We want someone who wants to make a difference in a child's life and someone who is financially stable and not doing it for the money but for the child," Taylor said. According to Karen Richardson, assistant regional manager at Devereux, the organization tries to provide homes that are as diverse as possible in order to suit children with any need, like those who are questioning their identity and gender. "Sometimes we use foster parents as guides so that they can navigate the experience [for the child]," Aishea Shider-Youmans, bilingual proctor supervisor, for Devereux said. "If you have foster parents of different cultures or experiences [the child] might need to have someone who has been there." One such foster parent who believes that his experiences as well as those of his wife's can aid a child was Jack D'Amato, current Devereux foster parent for two children. D'Amato told Reminder Publications that after raising their son and daughter he and his wife heard about Devereux's Therapeutic Foster Care Program and thought that it was "more suitable to their talents." They were first asked by Devereux to care for a girl over Mother's Day weekend in 2002. She was an 8-year-old girl, who D'Amato said, had been kicked out of the Springfield schools for behavioral issues. The D'Amatos were her 25th foster home. "She showed up with a little bag of clothes and a little tub of broken toys," D'Amato said. "It was heart wrenching to see this." However, like most children placed by Devereux the D'Amato's foster daughter presented many different behavioral issues. "We thought we had good parenting skills raising our two kids but this was a new challenge," D'Amato said. "We didn't know if we could handle it but Devereux had a lot of expertise." Despite their challenges D'Amato stated that he just kept telling his new foster daughter that there would never be a 26th foster home. Currently the D'Amato's are in the pre-adoptive phase for not only their now 12-year old foster daughter but also her sister who came to live with them in 2004. "The foster parent must go beyond the behavior and see the kindred spirit underneath," he said. "You have to have some kind of compassion for what's happened to the children and believe that with support you can make a difference in their lives." According to Taylor, potential foster parents must take the state certification course called the Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships and Parenting (MAPP), a 30-hour, four-week course. Foster parents must also be certified in First Aid and CPR. However previous experience in social services is not required to be a foster parent for Devereux. Foster parents within the Devereux Therapeutic Foster Care Program receive $350 per week, tax free, and also a paid respite program, and paid liability insurance, Taylor said. Foster parents also have a 24-hour support line with Devereux. "We want people to know that you're not getting this cute cuddly kid," Taylor said. "We don't want people to get a playmate for their child. We want to let them know that it's a job," Taylor said. | ||||||
