DSS hosts picnic to thank foster parents
5/17/2008 12:34 AM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend

By HALEY HUGHES
Staff writer
Aiken County Department of Social Services Friday said thank you to what the system calls its most valuable resources - foster parents.
DSS officials organized games for children, cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and provided an environment for foster parents to socialize over their common bond. May is nationally recognized as foster care month.
"We have a tremendous need (for foster parents) in Aiken County," said Laurie Hobbs, director of Aiken County DSS. "We should take care of our own. It takes a village to raise a child."
Foster care provides temporary services for children removed from their families because of abuse, neglect or exploitation by a parent or guardian. In South Carolina, about two-thirds of foster children live in foster family homes. The rest live in group care or institutional settings.
"Foster parents are the ones that provide for that child's individual needs working with our organization," Hobbs said.
Aiken County DSS does all that it can, she added, to keep children in this county so their lives are not further disrupted by changing school districts or churches.
Sheri and Charles Fulghum's children are grown and out of the house. But then they attended an information program on foster parenting held by a social worker at their church.
"We became foster parents basically because there was such a need," Sheri said.
The couple fosters babies - anywhere from days to a few years old. Sheri said they have been fostering for two years and have taken care of six babies. They adopted the first foster child they opened their home to, joining the 65 percent of foster parents who do choose to make the arrangement permanent.
"(One of the benefits is) joy," Charles said.
"Seeing everything through their eyes," Sheri said. "Knowing we're helping them at this crucial time."
For more information on foster parenting, call (803) 898-7318.

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