Canton— Approximately 30,000 young people leave Foster Care by 18 without having any lifelong family and currently more than 400,000 children are in Foster Care today.
Director of Administration Services at the Children’s Home of Jefferson County (CHJC), Barb Peck explained that Foster Parents require a rigorous background check and application process. “The application process is not that simple” said Ms. Peck, “just because you have an extra room, it doesn’t necessarily qualify you to be a Foster Parent.”
CHJC believes in providing the best quality care to children going in to Foster Care. The application process and extensive background check is set in order for children to be placed in the best homes and supervision.
“We are always looking for Foster Parents” said Ms. Peck, “but, reunification with birth parents is our goal in the end.” According to Ms. Peck, reunification for a child with their birth parents is not always possible. Kids can be in Foster Care from a few days, weeks, months or years, depending upon their circumstance and not all children get adopted.
At CHJC, quality Foster Parents is the most important thing and so there is no discrimination or ban based upon gender identity. “We don’t discriminate against gender expression” said Ms. Peck, “we have homosexual Foster Parents as well as heterosexual. You can be married or single, as long as you meet all of the requirements.”
On February 21, 2013 at 6 p.m., CHJC will be hosting an informational night at the Human Service Center, 80 State Highway 310, Second Floor Conference Room, Canton. Anyone in the North Country interested in becoming a Foster Parent is encouraged to attend. CHJC is looking for quality Foster Parents in the Tri-County areas (Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence).
