Local foster families in demand

LYNN – Need is falling short of demand for local families who can help children removed from troubled homes maintain school, community and sibling connections, a state foster worker said Thursday.”We’re in desperate need for foster parents,” said state family resource worker Lori Roscoe.Roscoe said 400 children are now in state-licensed foster care homes in Lynn, Nahant, Swampscott, Saugus and Lynnfield, but on Thursday alone, Roscoe said she had four children who needed a place to live in the area.”Right now, I’m looking for an infant home,” she said.When reports questioning possible unsafe living situations are filed in its offices, the state Department of Children and Families investigates a child’s family and home life. If investigators determine a child needs to be moved to another home, they first attempt to find a relative who can care for the child. If that search is not successful, the child is placed in foster care.June Littlefield of Peabody became a foster parent 42 years ago out of a love for children and because, “I wanted to do something to help somebody.””She’s great,” said Roscoe, “Some people call her Mother Teresa.”Littlefield, a mother of three, said she has cared for more than 100 foster children and adopted five foster children who range in age from 12 years old to 48 years old. She is not surprised Children and Families faces challenges finding foster parents at a time when more adults are working and spending less time at home.Roscoe said the foster home shortage is even more severe when it comes to finding homes for infants, including ones born to drug-addicted parents.”We’ve seen an increase in numbers,” she said.Jessica Berry, a Lynn children’s rights attorney, said the best hope for children removed from homes to reunite with parents or other family members rests with local foster families. She said disruption children face when they are removed from their home can be counterbalanced by relocating them with a family living near the school the child attended.”For every change in school placement, it takes a child six months to recover,” she said, citing research, and adding, “Connection to community is important.”Children and Families works with 140 licensed foster homes in the Lynn area and, Roscoe said, the agency has contracts with agencies working with foster families specializing in caring for children with disabilities and behavioral problems.Adults interested in becoming foster parents take 10 weeks of training with three-hour sessions scheduled each week.”Our parents can be single, married, widowed, renting or owning. They must have steady income,” Roscoe said.Children and Families pays foster parents a daily rate ranging from $20 to $25 and provides a clothing allowance for the child and health insurance. Littlefield said the real reward for foster parents is the chance to “look at the whole child” and help children develop into healthy adults.”Children need them. I’ll do this as long as I can,” she said.