and last updated 2021-08-02 17:39:37-04
TULSA, Okla. â There are over 7,000 children in the foster care system here in Oklahoma and 48 percent of those children are ages 6 to 17.
2 News Oklahoma went in-depth to take a hard look at Oklahomaâs foster system and met one woman who is making a big impact. I have my 29th right now, said Keil Miller. Sheâs 26.
She first opened her heart to foster care while she was still in college.
âI was 21. It was March of my senior year of college. Going into finals, I had a friend of my sisters who had lost custody of their kiddos and they asked if I would do a kinship placement, said Miller.
Waterford Twenty years ago, divorced and with her grown children having moved out, Priscilla Beany Peabody found herself alone in her New London house with five bedrooms.
She tried to keep busy but wanted to do more. So she began to serve as a foster parent.
Now, two decades later, Peabody has been a foster parent to countless boys and was one of three local foster families recognized by the Waterford Country School last month for their long service. Beany is great as a foster parent, said Sarah Butterfield, a recuiter at the school s Therapeutic Foster Care department.
She commended Peabody for making a difference in the lives of her foster boys and agreeing to taking on a child even when it got hard. Butterfield said it s easy to lose foster parents, so the organization appreciates those such as Peabody who stay on for an extended period of time.
Agencies are stepping up efforts to recruit foster parents for highly traumatized kids
Mental health professionals especially being sought
By: Bo Evans
and last updated 2021-04-19 14:24:52-04
DENVER â There are nearly half a million children in foster care across the United States, many of whom have experienced some level of trauma. Social workers are focused on recruiting families to take on the highest-level cases to give those children some stability.
Ronny DeCarlo always knew she wanted to be a foster parent.
âLike really, always. I knew that, that really called to me, she said. I really believe that it takes a village to raise children.â
Your Turn: Therapeutic Foster Care changes the world, one child at a time
Amanda Martindale
During my music therapy internship at a state facility for teens and adults with mental illnesses, I learned that many of the adults we served within the facility, who were there largely because they had been charged with crimes, shared the foster care experience of the teens.
Most of the teens had been through about 14 different placements by the time they got to our facility and had developed negative coping mechanisms due to their life experiences. No one had taught them how to process their emotions or trauma, which would come out in explosive tantrums.
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