Due to articles in the past regarding the lack of foster families in our valley and, more recently, articles in the Idaho Statesman identifying Idaho as one of the lowest reimbursement states for foster families, I feel the need to share our experience and shed some light on why the current situation is the way it is.
My husband and I recently decided to apply to become foster parents. We contacted the Department of Family Services in Jerome and were told the parenting class, mandatory for all applicants, would be held twice a week for six weeks in the town of Shoshone, 45 minutes away. Despite the unexpected additional cost of a babysitter for our three children ten hours a week, gas money, and my husband needing to leave work early on those days to make it to the meetings on time, we felt, for what it was worth, we would make it work and continue to pursue the parenting class. I was then told the class, which is held just once a year, was full. I began to wonder if we were deliberately being turned away. I began to question the information I had read about the shortage of foster families in our area. If there is such a high demand for foster families there needs to be parenting classes offered throughout the year in every county, preferably with on-site childcare as, I have learned, a majority of applicants already have established families of their own.
We have filled out endless pages of applications, secured our references, written up our autobiographies and completed our medical reports. All of these, plus getting our background checks, remain unsubmitted because in a year when the parenting class is available again our information will all need to be updated.
If the application process were easier to navigate and complete there would be more qualified families available for those children in need of a temporary home. Here we are, a family that whole-heartedly wants to provide a child with a safe place to stay with no monetary expectations from the state and we can't even begin to get our foot in the door.
Susie Lambert
Bellevue
