Srianthi Perera

The Republic | azcentral.com

The state reimbursement covers just the basics

There are 843 foster homes in the Southeast Valley

Homes can't get licensed fast enough to keep up with the growing demand

Besides raising three children of their own, Bethany and Micah Hutchison foster two boys ages 4 and 6 in their Gilbert home.

For the Hutchisons, who are on a single income, Christmas poses a challenge.

"When you have five children you're trying to buy some gifts for, that can really add up quickly," said Bethany Hutchison, who last year received help from the Salvation Army.

The Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation also had covered airfare for the boys to visit Disneyland. The 30-year-old organization pays for social, athletic and educational activities for children in foster care that are not paid for in any other way.

"The amount that we get from the state, it's a reimbursement for just daily living expenses like clothing, food, shelter; it really doesn't even cover everything, although it certainly helps," Hutchison said. "For anything extra that you do with the children, definitely having those other organizations (is) a huge help."

Around the Southeast Valley, agencies, churches, non-profit organizations and even municipalities provide help to foster families.

But the rising need makes it difficult to keep up with demand.

Each day in Arizona, an average of 31 children come into foster care, according to Kris Jacober of the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation.

"They come with nothing. A CPS worker comes, they pick them up and take them out of their home in the clothes that they are wearing," Jacober said. "They end up with their relatives with no resources or in a family foster home or in a group home."

To accommodate the children, the state and its contractors license more foster homes.

Maricopa County has about 2,000 licensed family foster homes, and 843 of them are in the Southeast Valley, according to Jennifer Bowser-Richards, spokeswoman from the Arizona Department of Child Safety. This number does not include unlicensed kinship providers that are generally short-term arrangements.

"Despite the continued increase in the number of foster homes, the department desperately needs more foster families to care for the increased number of children in need of out-of-home care," she said.

The state pays about $19 a day per child to caregivers in licensed foster homes, while kinship caregivers are paid $1 a day. This pays for food, clothes and schooling. Often, the children have been neglected or abused, are traumatized and lag educationally, thus they need counseling and extra tuition to catch up in school.

Some foster parents have the financial wherewithal to go beyond the basic comforts. Others find it difficult to even offer the basics.

Wendy Esquibel opened Jose's Closet from her Queen Creek garage five years ago. She accepted donations of clothing and shoes and gave them to about 25 needy foster families.

Today, Jose's Closet operates out of a church in Apache Junction and serves more than 600 children, mostly from the Southeast Valley.

For a $40 annual fee, foster families receive clothes, shoes, toys, Christmas gifts, backpacks and the like. What sets them apart from Helen's Hope Chest, a Mesa-based United Way-run outfit that serves foster children, is that Jose's Closet does not exclude biological children in the foster family. Additionally, most clients at Jose's Closet have several foster children.

"There's less resources, there's less money. So, of course, the need is rising," Esquibel said. "We're taking more children; we know more children are in the system, so families have more children now than they used to."

Esquibel, a 12-year foster mom who's working on her sixth adoption, said she understands the challenges. "I have had many foster parents tell me that they could not continue to do foster care if it wasn't for places like Jose's and Helen's because it's too cost-ineffective," she said. "You don't make money if you're doing foster care well."

Gilbert resident Elizabeth (Libby) Pearce has four children of her own, is a foster mom to two and serves as a Foster Care Review Board volunteer. Pearce said the needs keeps growing.

"It's like receiving a new baby into your life," Pearce said.

But there are no baby showers when gaining a foster child, she said.

Churches try to serve foster families, but Pearce would like to see the community do more. "What if we could awaken the neighborhood to say, you know, there's a family that is licensed or going to license. What if we gather around them?"

Beyond items in the house, there can be other items needed such as pool fences outside, and the non-tangible needs such as time to work through individual education plans so that foster children can perform better in school.

Municipalities offer some help. In Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert, those on a low income (not just foster families) may receive discounted fees for some recreational activities and even scholarships. In addition, most municipalities allocate funding to foster agencies that provide services to their residents.

Aid to Adoption of Special Kids is one out of 20 licensing agencies in Maricopa County. It has locations in Phoenix and Peoria and plans to open a location in Chandler by September.

Director of Recruitment Russ Funk said the number of children coming into the foster-care system is increasing at a rate faster than state regulations will allow people to be processed. Licensing takes at least six months and he noted that there is a 20 percent annual increase in licensed homes via the agency.

"Our community is great and there are people who are open to helping," he said. "But they just can't respond fast enough and get licensed fast enough to keep up with the growing demand."

Jacober calls the children "the most vulnerable."

"They got picked up today, they don't know where they're going to wake up tomorrow. And, in their journey, they don't have any voice about what happens to them. You're going to move here, wear these clothes and eat this food," she said. "They are the state's most vulnerable children and we should do what we can to improve their life while they are on foster care."

Resources for foster families

The following is a partial list of resources for foster families in the Southeast Valley:

• Arizona Department of Economic Security is the state agency that regulates foster care. azdes.gov/dcyf/adoption.

• Arizona Family Institute offers classes in parenting foster children, and also in-home child and family counseling and therapy. 3048 E. Baseline Road, Suite 108, Mesa; arizonafamilyinstitute.com.

• Central Christian Church, which has locations in Mesa, Gilbert, Ahwatukee and Queen Creek, offers monthly foster-care support services. www.centralaz.com.

• Neighborhood Child Adoption Matters is a website that offers resources. neighborhood.child-adoption-matters.com.

• Jose's Closet: For a $40 annual fee plus a small fee for furniture, diapers and formula, families can obtain baby/kids clothes, feeding supplies, equipment, toys, seasonal items and furniture. Items can also be exchanged with others.

• Thunder Mountain Middle School, Center Stage Christian Church, 3700 E. 16th Ave., Apache Junction; josescloset.org.

• Helen's Hope Chest is a boutique that provides gently used clothing and basic-need items free for children in foster or kinship care. Open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment. 480-969-5411 or mesaunitedway.org/helens-hope-chest-1.

• Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation provides grants to foster children that help to enrich their lives and build self-esteem. affcf.org.

• Aid to Adoption of Special Kids, based in Phoenix, is establishing an office in Chandler. aask-az.org.

• Southeast Valley municipalities offer assistance to low-income families, especially to obtain reduced rates for recreation.

Want to be a foster parent?

Get details at www.azdes.gov/az_adoption/.