For the single mother at risk of losing her children to foster care because she lacks the skills to clean a home or cook for her children, help is on the way.
With two $350,000 state grants, nonprofit Bellewood Presbyterian Homes for Children will hire new employees and create a program to lessen the need for state-funded foster homes in western Kentucky, said Kristy Watt, Bellewood’s director of west Kentucky operations.
“This is a proactive program to provide parents with a good role model and the skills to properly care for their children,” Watt said. The key will be if parents have the motivation to change their thinking about how to care for their family.
Bellewood will offer the new program in Paducah and in Bowling Green. The Paducah-based program will hire five case managers and a therapist to serve McCracken, Marshall, Graves and Calloway counties. And it will have Bellewood case managers visit about 60 state-referred families for a few hours a day for four months to assess their strengths and weaknesses, and provide parents help to keep their children.
“The reality is that there are more kids than foster homes,” said Jim Burns, a Bellewood case manager for children in foster care. Burns said the new program is intended to solve the “front end” problems that force children into foster care.
Learning parenting skills such as age-appropriate discipline techniques, proper food storage and the timely washing of dishes can prevent a fractured family, Burns said.
Most of the families referred to Bellewood live below the poverty level, have housing or food problems and may be missing a parent, Watt said. In extreme cases there is suspicion of abuse, neglect and drug use in the family.
Tim Marcum, program manager at Bellewood Presbyterian Homes for Children, reviews a case record from the nonprofit organization’s cabinet of confidential files. Marcum manages the training program for foster care families in Paducah and said his desk is usually buried under papers.
“We are really trying to preserve families in every way possible and help them cope with all kinds of problems,” said Tim Marcum, program manager.
Bellewood leaders hope the state will extend the funding in July, and award $700,000 a year for the next two years, Watts said. Bellewood received two of the five regional grants that the state government awarded.
“There is some pressure, but we are excited,” Watt said. To receive an extension, each Bellewood program family must accomplish 75 percent of its specified goals.
Despite the new funding, Watt said the organization still needs community donations.
“We operate a lot of programs at a loss because they are needed to help children in the area,” Watt said. Bellewood also operates an independent living program to provide homes for teens who are too old to be in the foster-care system.
“Kids are the fastest-growing portion of the homeless population,” Watt said. “Those kids need a place to develop the skills to become contributing citizens.”
The Paducah Sun
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
By Michael De Los Reyes
