Like other caregivers, former cottage parents Kay and her husband, Brett Campbell, attempt to bring stability to children separated from their birth parents. Although child protection is financed by taxpayers, most adults in the system aren't government employees. They're foster parents or court-appointed special advocates. Only a small percentage of foster parents, those dealing with special-needs children, are paid by the state. The children receive a clothing allowance.
Most foster parents are volunteers, just like the child advocates.
Yet they shoulder a major part of the stressed-out child protective system. In its foster parent recruitment brochure, the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services quotes from someone referred to only as Betty. She was 10 when her mother died. It is so rewarding to be able to nurture a shattered person and help restore their life to be able to live a functional and successful life in the community. It takes love and patience to be a foster parent, given the baggage abused or neglected children bring with them.