State Needs More Foster Families

There are currently 1,200 children in Department of Social Services foster care across the ten counties of the Upstate, but less than 500 licensed resource foster homes in those same ten counties.

The South Carolina Youth Advocate Program has been holding information meetings for those interested in becoming foster families.

The Pickens County meeting will be held 6:30-7:30pm Thursday, September 13 at the Hampton Memorial Library in Easley.

Betsy Gray-Manning with SCYAP told Patch earlier this year that the lack of available foster homes means children in the foster care system are often moved around and moved away from their hometowns, home schools and places of worship.

“That decreases the number of children who remain in their communities and it discontinues their family connections if they have to be moved to another county,” Gray-Manning said. “It also delays permanence for the children. 

SCYAP has contracted with DSS to recruit and license additional homes to shore up this gap. 

Under this contract, SCYAP is responsible for recruiting additional homes, re-licensing existing homes and placement options for DSS when foster care placement is necessary.

SCYAP works with the foster family applicants every step of the way.

“That’s something we do that’s really unique,” Gray-Manning said. “We provided support to foster resource families through a variety of means.”

Those resources include a 24-hour crisis line manned by trained mental health professionals, license coordination and support by foster care professionals, as well as trainings in collaboration with the SC Foster Parent Association.

Foster families must undergo 14 hours of training to get their certification, as well as continuing hours to keep their certifications up, she said.

“We work in collaboration with the SC Foster Parent Association to ensure they get the training needed to get their certification as a foster parent.”

Applications to become foster parents will be available at the information meetings, Gray-Manning said.

After receiving the application, a coordinator will come to the applicants’ home to give an orientation, she said.

SCYAP hopes to not only license the 700 foster families needed to shore the gap, but many more than that.

“We’re looking for a good mix of families,” Gray-Manning said. “What we would like to have is a home for each child that enters foster care.”