CPS board, state agencies aid foster families
"Not only are we reaching out to help the children, we are reaching out to the families as well. -- Jacque Pickard CPS board chairman"
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

Foster parents in Lampasas County provided homes for 44 children last year, but Lampasas County Child Protective Services board members still are trying to recruit new foster families.

Lampasas County especially needs families willing to accept whole sibling groups, CPS board chairperson Jacque Pickard said. Keeping siblings together helps ease children's transition to foster care, she added.

"They've been traumatized enough," said Mrs. Pickard. "The last thing they need is to lose their big brother or sister."

To serve as foster parents, applicants must be 21 years of age and financially stable; complete an application; show proof of marriage or divorce; provide information about family background; agree to a home study, in which Texas Department of Family and Protective Services staff visit with all family members; allow staff to complete criminal history and abuse/neglect checks on all adults in the household; and attend free training to learn how to care for abused and neglected children.

Along with 16 hours of pre-service training, CPS requires potential foster parents to attend Parent Resource Information Development Education, a 35-hour program covering topics from discipline to the effects of neglect and physical or sexual abuse to the effects of foster care and adoption on the family. PRIDE training also offers information on working with the state's child welfare system.

"I think people just aren't aware of what the requirements are" for providing foster care, Mrs. Pickard said.

Foster family applicants can apply for a foster-only license, an adoption-only license, or for licensing both to adopt and care for foster children.

"That's the most common," CPS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said of the dual licensing option. "It helps the adoption along, because the child has already been in the home."

In an effort to improve foster care, DFPS is working to keep families intact when children do not face an imminent threat, Van Deusen said. Therapy and family training classes available through the Family Preservation program, for example, offer early intervention without removing children from their parents.

Parents willing to receive child abuse and neglect prevention training can qualify for Family Reunification, which allows children to return to their homes if parents complete their training within one year of the children's court-ordered removal. Families can receive a onetime, six-month extension, but most qualify for reunification without it, Van Deusen said.

Last year 19 Lampasas County families, with a total of 45 children, participated in Family Preservation, while five families -- a total of 11 children -- received Family Reunification services.

In addition, DFPS's Kinship Program has allowed more children statewide to live with non-offending family members, such as grandparents, or with trusted family friends, rather than entering foster care, Van Deusen said.

"Those are really increasing," he said of Kinship Program participants. "It just sort of eases the transition and makes it better for everybody."

The 12-member Lampasas County CPS board also helps children adjust to their new setting when they are committed to foster care, Mrs. Pickard said. The board stocks the Rainbow Room, located at the DFPS office at 204 Riverview Dr., with clothing, diapers, shoes, car seats, toys and other goods children need when they leave their homes. In emergency situations of abuse, some children have come to the DFPS office with no possessions except the clothes they were wearing, Mrs. Pickard said.

The CPS board gave $22,156 to foster children last year, which included Christmas presents, birthday and Christmas gift cards, clothing, medical care and prescriptions not covered by Medicaid, and $100 per child for backto school expenses. The board also pays for summer camps, offers tutoring for students, provides graduation assistance and runs a college stipend fund.

"We even bought contacts for one child," Mrs. Pickard said.

The board also buys groceries for foster families and provides clothes and gasoline money, among other services.

"Not only are we reaching out to help the children, we are reaching out to the families as well," Mrs. Pickard said.

State reimbursement varies with the special-needs classification of foster children in the home. Service levels range from basic -- for children exhibiting mild misbehavior and mild developmental problems -- to intense -- for those with severe retardation, a history of drug abuse or who exhibit extreme physical aggression and self-injury.

Foster families receive a minimum reimbursement of $21.44 per day for basic services, $37.52 for moderate, $48.24 for specialized care and $85.76 for intense care.

"People aren't in it for the money," Mrs. Pickard said.

She said she appreciates both her fellow CPS board volunteers and donors to the board. Donors contributed $7,700 last year, and one woman has given the board $100 every month for the last five years, Mrs. Pickard said.

"There is great citizen involvement," she said. "People in this community are just so generous to our cause."

The CPS board will hold a golf tournament fund-raiser March 28 at Hancock Park Golf Course, with local businesses sponsoring holes on the course. For more information, phone Hancock Park Golf Course at 556-3202, or call 525- 9498.

The CPS board meets the second Tuesday of every month at 5:15 at the former city hall building. The public is welcome after the closed session with CPS staff.

The board also operates booths at various community events, including Spring Ho, Bloomin' Fest and the Herb & Art Fest, to educate the public about child abuse and neglect and to increase the number of Lampasas County foster families. The board especially welcomes young volunteers, Mrs. Pickard said.

"We would more than welcome anybody's help, and we would like to offer any information for those interested in being a foster family," she said.