Critical need for foster parents in Carson City and Quad-County region; without fosters, children sent statewide
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 08/24/2023 - 2:26pm
Currently, there is a critical shortage of foster parents in Carson City and the surrounding areas both for long-term foster parents and respite care foster parents, who take care of children for as little as a weekend while their foster parents take a trip.
According to the Division of Child and Family Services’ Rural Foster Recruiter Shelby Riley, there are currently only three beds open across Carson City, Dayton and Gardnerville.
Carson City has the most foster homes at ten homes, while Dayton has four homes and Gardnerville has one, all of which are full up.
Within the ten homes in Carson City, three beds are open across the lot, which means that siblings are unable to be placed together.
When asked what the ideal number of homes could be, Riley said there can never be enough homes.
“Even doubling right now wouldn’t be enough,” Riley said. “It really depends because the need for foster care ebbs and flows. The more people we have, the more we can help our community.”
The need is greatest for sibling groups, as most children who are removed from their homes will do so with their siblings. Being unable to be placed with siblings can further add to the trauma associated with being removed from their birth families.
With so few foster homes, however, breaking up sibling groups is only one poor outcome. If there are no placements for kids within their own communities, they can be sent to homes as far away as Elko or Pahrump.
There is also a need for foster homes that will take older children and teens, but even babies and toddlers have trouble finding placement with so few homes in the area.
There’s a number of reasons the number of foster homes has been depleted, according to Riley, but the main issue was many foster parents stopped fostering during the pandemic.
“Now, we’re looking to rebuild the program from the ground up,” Riley said.
Riley said there are many common misconceptions that cause people to think they would not be accepted as foster parents.
You can be single, married, or in a domestic partnership, you can work full time or be a stay-at-home parent, you can rent or own your home, and you can have roommates or live in a multi-generational home. However, foster parents must be 21 years of age or over and pass background checks and go through training before placement occurs.
If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent, please visit https://ruralnvfostercare.com
Interested in other ways you can help? Sign up to be an Angel Tree donor for the holidays to help make foster children’s wishes come true!
