What Every Child Needs....FAMILY! Help keep Euclid children in Euclid - Consider becoming a foster/adoptive parent
You can make a difference in a child's life by becoming a foster and adoptive parent. The need is great in our community for safe, loving homes where children can grow and develop. Our goal is to help place children in a stable setting as soon as possible. Every child deserves a family. There are many children, especially teens and sibling groups in the permanent custody of Cuyahoga County who need true heroes in their lives, who can provide guidance and stability. Foster and adoptive parents, who include relative caregivers and interested individuals, can help meet that need and become a true hero in a waiting child's life.
Years ago, children who could not live with their families were placed in orphanages or institutions. These children grew into adulthood never reconnecting with parents, siblings or extended families. Families that took unrelated children into their homes were not licensed and received no funding to care for these children. Gradually, the foster care system was built through social service agencies like the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Service (DCFS). The eventual passing of laws and regulation of foster care assured the safety of these children.
The Euclid Family to Family Collaborative is a grant-funded program that partners the Euclid Family YMCA and DCFS. One of the many facets of the Collaborative is to help recruit foster and adoptive families for the children in our community who need loving and caring homes. A foster or adoptive parent must be at least 21 years of age and have sufficient income to meet personal basic needs and be in good physical, emotional and mental health. Volunteers can be single or part of a couple who have had a stable relationship for at least one year. There are no educational or religious requirements and home ownership is not necessary. Persons interested in foster care must complete 36 hours of pre-service training, divided into 12, three-hour sessions. There is an application form and process, as well as a background check with fingerprints. The final step is a home study. The home study can take four to six months and can start while during the training period. A DCFS home study worker makes a series of visits to the home and interviews all household members.
The Family to Family initiative was created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to reform and improve child welfare practices across the nation by advocating for children to remain safely within their own families in their own neighborhoods. The Euclid Collabortive's goal is to help local Euclid youth who are entering the foster care system remain within our community. Moves can hurt children and with the help of local residents, we can allow these children to remain in their own schools, with their friends, continue to be a part of their faith-based communities and be supported by local individuals and businesses.
If you are interested in finding out more about foster and adoptive care, contact Courtney Nicolai or Alicia Smith at the Euclid Collaborative, (216) 731-7454, or log onto the Collaborative website at http://www.clevelandymca.org/branches/euclid/collaborative.html.