With Grandparents day on Sunday, here is a message from our President and CEO Luanne Fisher, about the Kinship Foster care program.
Many of us have fond memories of our grandparents. ?Whether we remember them for their patience and kindness or the stories they have told us, we cherish theses memories that will last a lifetime.
I would like to tell you about the Lutheran Children and Family Service Kinship Foster Care program and how many grandparents of the children referred to LCFS are making a wonderful contribution. ?Grandparents who elect to serve in the Kinship program understand the impact that separation and loss has on children and are willing to accept the child where they are at, which often includes challenging behaviors often exhibited during this tumultuous time.? I have invited Jennifer Kaba, Foster Care In-Take Supervisor to tell us some of the qualities and sacrifices these exceptional people make in order to keep their family together and support their grandchildren during this challenging time.
??Grandparents participating in the Kinship program have many wonderful characteristics. In addition to being kind and compassionate they are able to receive feedback from our staff, actively use numerous community resources, and become involved in the child?s education and school activities. ?Most importantly they are willing to place their own lives on hold and provide their grandchild with the security of home environment.
Our kinship foster parents want to keep their families together. ?However, at times this may be difficult.? They may feel conflicted and torn between watching and hoping for positive changes in their grown child?s behavior while seeing first-hand the impact this separation and loss has on their grandchild.? As difficult as it is, there are times when they may need to choose the welfare of their grandchildren over their own children.
There are many other sacrifices that our Kinship Foster Parents make. ?Some need to quit their jobs to be at home and involved in the child?s life, others have needed to relocate. ?In addition, a kinship parent has to wrestle with the decision of whether to adopt their grandchild when the return of the child to the biological parents is not appropriate. ?Perhaps the only thing grandparents can do as they watch their own child lose parental rights is to hope for healing and wholeness in the future.
In addition to grandparents, the Kinship Foster Care program enlists the help of aunts, uncles and other relatives willing to support a child in foster care. ?Over the past year LCFS has supported 10 grandparents and one great grandparent who prevented their grandchild?s placement into the general foster care system. ?Our social workers support and coach them through the complicated process of caring for their grandchild while supporting their own children. ?Several of those grandparents endured numerous challenges and heartaches along the way but remained committed and determined to support the various needs of their grandchildren.? LCFS supports each one of them through these difficult decisions and as they move forward to ensure the safety, security, and well being of their grandchildren.?
Thank you Jennifer and all of the staff that work to support our Foster Care Program at LCFS. ?This program, as so many others do, exemplifies the way that Lutheran Children and Family Service is Connecting People and Changing Lives every day!
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