Fear of the unknown

COEUR d'ALENE - James Curb sees it time and again, kids who become in need of foster care placement in Coeur d'Alene, and must be placed in an outlying area because no homes are available in town.

In one of his roles working for the Coeur d'Alene School District, Curb serves as a liaison between the community, agencies and churches that provide services for homeless children.

It troubles him to see children experiencing the trauma of being removed from their homes, and then also sent away from everything else they're familiar with.

"What these kids go through is hell, and you know what's worse than hell? The unknown," Curb said.

It motivated Curb to recently sign up to become a foster parent himself.

"In a town as giving as Coeur d'Alene, why do we not have foster families?" he said.

Julie Gardner, who works for the Idaho Child Welfare Research and Training Center in Coeur d'Alene, said they can always use more foster families, but the problem in Coeur d'Alene is a little more complicated than that.

She calls it the "domino effect."

"The outlying areas have always been the toughest for us. We have less homes there, so they have to start pulling from Coeur d'Alene," said Gardner, whose agency covers Region 1 - Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai, Shoshone and Benewah counties.

When a child in needs foster placement, and there's no home available in that child's community, Gardner said they have to start looking at the next town, and the next, until they find a placement.

The consequence is that when a child needs a foster home in Coeur d'Alene, the homes are already filled with children from outside the area, so that Coeur d'Alene child will end up somewhere else, like Rathdrum.

"When a child comes into care, we look for homes available that will allow the child to stay in their community, to maintain their school and service connections," Gardner said.

That's become increasingly difficult because of this "domino effect," she said, and it's happening in other places throughout the state, like in Lewiston and McCall.

It also makes it difficult for them to achieve what Gardner said is the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's primary goal - reunification of children with their birth parents. Long distances between parent and child inhibit those efforts, she said.

"One of our areas of highest need is Post Falls," she said.

She said they need foster homes throughout the area, "greater than ever before," so they can keep kids in their communities.

"I always tell people we're looking for people who have the heart to foster," Gardner said.

There are some other requirements. Foster parents must be at least 21, complete an application, pass a background check, and agree to be fingerprinted. If they are accepted and approved by Health and Welfare, foster parents must attend 27 hours of training.

Gardner and Curb each shared enthusiasm for a relatively new program offered by the state, called One Church One Child.

Faith communities have historically provided support and services for foster children, families and birth families, Gardner said. The One Church One Child program creates a bridge between the children and families served by the state and the churches seeking to help them.

The program seeks to recruit individuals and families within communities of faith to become licensed foster parents or adoptive parents and mobilize congregations to provide for the needs of foster children and their birth families.

For additional information for potential foster parents or faith communities interested in getting involved in One Child One Church, dial 2-1-1 or call the Idaho Child Welfare Research and Training Center in Coeur d'Alene, 676-1186.