Evening star., 1946-11-17
Welfare Board Plans
Winter Campaign for
More Foster Homes

More Foster Homes
Foster homes are needed in the
District and the Board Of Public
Welfare plans winter campaign to
obtain more especially homes for
white children. B
The Foster Care Service Of the
board now has 329 homes on its
list and says 1t needs at least 200
more. The greatest need is for
homes in the District to which the
service can remove foster children
who now are cared for in farm
homes in nearby Maryland and Vir-
ginia. There are few homes In
Southern Virginia, but places that
distant are used only in rare cases:
1t is estimated that about 1000
foster children need care here.
Officials of the service believe that
IN some homes there are too many
foster children and want to obtain
additional homes SO the number In
each can be limited. In the future
the service will think in terms Of
homes and not how many beds are
available for foster children in any
one home.
Committee Being Formed.
The plan to obtain more homes
will be aided by a committee of
about so citizens which the service
now is organizinf1. This committee
will consist of representatives from
church societies, citizens associa-
tions, labor unions, civic clubs, news
papers and radio stations.
Miss Gladys B. Denison, consul
tant in home finding of the Foster
Care Services, said yesterday that
while about SIS per cent of the fos-
ter children are colored the service
has had more success In placing
them. There are scarcely any
white homes, she said.
The Welfare Board has a scale
OF payment to foster parents. For
child under three years Of age
the board pays $45 month, from
three to six years $35 a month, be-
tween 6 and IA years $50 q month,
and from IA to 16 years $35 a month.
In the subsidized foster homes, that
Is, homes where up to five children
are placed, the Board pays $45 for
each child, In addition to a monthly
bonus of $35. There are four such
homes in the District, and the board
would like to have at least six more.
Medical Care Furnished
Medical care and clothing are
furnished by the board. Before a
home can take in children it must
undergo a thorough examination
and furnish references. Anyone ap-
plying for a foster child must make
out an application blank. The ap-
plicant is asked to call at office. of
Foster Care Services, 470 Indiana
avenue NV, where he Is inter-
viewed.
One of the things the service has
to overcome, according to Miss Dem
ison, Is the feeling that it is degrad-
ing for a family to take in a foster
child. This is the wrong view, she
says, as the people who take, the
children are a credit to the city and
the country. The children, too, Miss
Denison says, take a beating" from
neighbor children and in some cases
from school teachers, who look down
on them as welfare children"
Foster parents must have a good
standard of living" Miss Denison
said. "They also must have knowl-
edge and skill to care for children
wisely, the capacity to love children
who are not their own and never
can be theirs. And they must have
the generosity of heart which makes |
1t possible for them to love other
peoples children and to like them
as they are with all their quirks and
differences.
Sacrifice Is Required.
"No one pretends that it is easy
to be foster parents. Caring for chill
dren requires hard work, sacrifice
and the assuming of an important
responsibility. Foster parents cannot
take child and give him up lightly.
A child needs one home in which he
can live until he goes home to his
own parents or is grown.
When children move from foster
home to foster home they become
less and less able to love other peo-
pie. Constant moves are apt to lead |
to delinquency and mental illness.
AT the best, they may result in a |
shallow personality that is incapable |
OF loving any one much.
"Choroa afor
rity are developed by the child hav-
ing a strong, lasting affection for his
parents or his foster parents. When
people become foster parents they
are not assuming an easy Job, but
they are assuming a satisfying one.
There is deep joy is loving some
one else's child, watching him grow
and gain strength and show promise
OF growing up to be a happy and
useful adult.
Foster children do not differ from
other children except that they can
not live with their own parents,
Often they are unhappy children
who have been. hurt before they 20
into a foster home. 1t is hard for
any child to understand why he
cannot live with his own parents.
But foster children respond TO
friendliness and love just as other
children do. They need from the
community not maudlin pity, but
liking and friendship"
The children come under the care
OF the Board of Public Welfare for
numerous reasons. Sometimes the