National Foster Care Month: Supporting Reunification of Families

May 4, 2020

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The goal of Richland County Children Services (RCCS) is always reunification. RCCS has on average 100 children in custody with close to 60 foster homes. Out of the 100 children, 30 percent of them are teenagers. Families are needed for all age children especially teenagers.

“We currently only have two foster homes willing to take teenagers. Our goal, as always, is to find foster homes that are willing to take these teenagers. The question that I often get asked is where do the teenagers go if your homes are full. Sadly, the answer is that we have to send them out of network, which means being placed outside of Richland County,” said RCCS Placement Supervisor Jeraca Barnett.

“The reason we work so hard to recruit foster parents (especially those teen homes) is because we know that sending them out of county is more traumatizing to them. Obviously, our goal as an Agency is to prevent trauma, heal them, put them somewhere safe but we can’t keep them in their community unless we have people willing to take them,” said Barnett.

“Our goal is always to reunify and to prevent further trauma for our children. In order to do that, we need to keep the children in their own communities. We need people willing to accept the teenagers that so badly need stability and structure in their lives as they grow into adulthood. Many of them need independent living skills and a core basis to be successful as adults,“said Barnett.

You can make a difference in a child's life! If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, please call 419-774-4100.  

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