Over the past six years, foster parents Dottie and Andy Anderson of Summerville have held a lot of sick babies. The South Carolina Foster Parents Association recently honored the Andersons as Foster Parents of the Year. The Department of Social Services also recognized the couple on May 9 as it kicked off a new foster parent recruitment campaign.
Foster children are generally at a crossroads in their lives.
It's a situation where a nurturing family can really make a difference in the life of a child. Goals of the recruitment campaign include assessing the foster care needs of individual communities, efficiently processing foster care applications and increasing support for foster parents, Dr. Patterson said. South Carolina has 4,700 children in foster care and 1,550 foster homes. Since 1994, they have been foster parents to 21 children from Berkeley and Charleston counties. They have adopted two of these children, Hope and Joshua, and are planning to adopt a third.