So, the local Catholic Charities partners with this agency to find foster homes for these kids, coming into the country from Central America without parents or guardians. I’ve spoken with their recruitment office several times before. I called them again yesterday, for various reasons. What we ended up with is that we are going to do respite for them, getting a feel for what their program is about. We steered away from it in the past, because of the ages of the kids and our own kids and other reasons, but there are a lot of benefits to this program over traditional foster care. No parent visits, limited numbers of caseworkers coming in and out, kids of an age that they don’t need a babysitter, etc. Let’s not even talk about how their reimbursement rate is almost double what is typical for the state, allowing you to really do some cool stuff for these kids. 

Of course, we are still getting licensed for traditional foster care with our agency, but this is a path we are considering moving down in the future, depending on how things go. 

This whole following my faith and intuition thing, going where I feel led, in order to be of service in this world, is a wonky and crazy ride. Who knows where we will end up!

About Unaccompanied Children’s Services | Office of Refugee Resettlement | Administration for Children and Families