babble Australia: May 8, 2009
Posted by Hannah Tennant-Moore at 4:00 PM on May 8, 2009
It’s a great day when the cover of the New York Times has a story that puts you in a good mood. Today, the Times profiles a nonprofit that places the children of mothers in crisis with volunteer families, who care for the kids as their own until the mothers are able to get back on their feet.
By placing children with temporary parents, Safe Families for Children keeps kids out of the foster system, while ensuring that they are removed from dangerous situations. The Chicago-based organisation has proven life-saving for women who are in abusive relationships or who get kicked out of their homes for any number of reasons, such as job loss or health problems that prevent them from working. Safe Families does background checks and house visits of potential volunteers, and mothers are able to see their children as much as they want during the unofficial foster period.
Praising the program, the Illinois director of child and family services said, “Where parents recognise issues they need to address and ask for support before abuse or neglect takes place, it’s a great thing.”
Even more important than recognising the issues is having access to remedies. 25-year-old Janai Parahams certainly recognized the problems of staying with her violent partner, but she may not have felt able to leave were it not Safe Families, which placed her four young children (one of whom is pictured) in temporary homes while Paraham took a job-preparation course, found employment with the Census Bureau, and moved into a new home.
This unofficial foster care also makes financial sense for all taxpayers:
“In Chicago, Safe Families expects to place 1,000 children this year, for average stays of 45 days. Administrative costs total $US350,000 a year, with $US100,000 coming from the state and the rest from churches and foundations. If those children ended up in foster care instead…the cost to the public would be millions.”
Would you consider opening your home temporarily to children from troubled families?
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Photo: New York Times