Transcripts For WRC Viewpoint 20150524 : vimarsana.com

Four girls, ar 14yearold mia and 19yearoldni nicole and 12yearold cojasmine. Thesei] aree1 yournr fostert c children. co a sevenmonthold eightmonthold, fiveyearold the foster children were placedxd with youw3ni about a moment r ago. April 11th and december 8th. You have a big old giant family now dont you . T yes. Definitely i love it. Whats it like to ut a house] ni ull of children . Very busy. Jfw3xd never ending. Why diapvau decide to foster children . This ison not bour first time doingfa it. I was a foster child myself since the ageco of three. aid went backq to my biological mother at the agee1 of 12. Its something i always wanted to give back. co i have a lot to offer a lot of teaching ii6 my wife told me she wanted to do it, a big smileco on my face. Here we nixdare. ni gilda i understand you. Ean do. You would take more. T yes, if i could just havenro7 thenr bigger house. Our house is never big enough. Were always rearranging rooms to accommodate. Jf the three siblings, we putnr 12c and 14 all together. What used to be our master bedroom. When we got ourc siblings we ended up moving to the basement sofa we cannico keep them together. nilplpi] wanted two siblings< they wouldnt be separated. Whatever i need to do it, ill do it. What is it about fosteringw3 children that isco so important toxd you . Ive always wanted it since i was a little girl. When i mentioned it to myni mom, i was like thank okgod finally. Youre fin,e doing it. Youve beenr forever which shocked me. Shes like youve been talking about it forever, im glad youre finally doing it. E1 i think growing up innicoc n mississippi, wexdok always had kidsco faco around, always the neighborhood my mom and dad wouldlp gather us around the neighborhood take us to the baseballni field and we would play baseball. W3 childhood ever. I always go back to it. I dont remember anybody fromko middle school or elementary. We always with kids at our home. co to thisnr day they are age 44 and over. We alwayslp wish it was our parents and would every fatime. You love being parent 1n loveninr loving kids. Yes. Xd camila, how initial arexd the cliffords . They arexd fantastic. They are justcor wenr want to clone them. We truly love them. We have ani] urgent need in our community, our region. Children in foster care and we have about 1700 families like t 1 jzcn iave agreed to become Foster Parents. When we haveq a discrepancy likeni c this what happensuc with our children whene1 they come in, x if we dont have a home available they have to go into group care or institution. We want peoplet tor families. People like the cliffords whot extendjfatqc arms to them and welcome them into this home. How long is thec . Daverage day in foster care . You know, the averageco day, its beenr come in, have thatco wonderfulr experience like they have with the clifford r during that timew3r let the system determine if they are going to go back tofa their birth family or go on to be adopted. Currently about between or threexd years, the average length9of stay for our kochildren,t which is long. We want our children either to transition back home or stay with the family like the . ; cliffords or be adopted by them or be adopted by someone else. All right. Were talking abou and weve got two veryco special Foster Parents with us this morning. Well cr ainue our discussion on viewpoint right after this break. Welcome back. Were talking about fosterqlp parenting this morning. Camila, you were justymc talking about the averagelp stay in foster care was from two to threefaniw3 lp years. The childrennr are fateenagers. The majoritffa are teenagers. About 2600 falling in the age range of 16 tot 20. We really need families who are willing to accept teenagers. Its a verynifa vulnerable time. Its at very impressionable time for our young people. We want families who understand theres other milestones. A lot of times they thinkxdt aboutlp parenting, talking about babies, the first walk the first words and all that, but we want people to also be excited about maybe walk acrossni the0s graduate or5a taking themco fort theirco drivers license. There are still milestones can be reached. Thats why we need families for ourkolp teenagers. Do you have ae . W special process for preparation parents toxd q teenagers, at baby . There are special classes that Foster Parents are able t7dtv receive once they become Foster Parents. If they want to enhance their skills, quote unquote ,cth a butco all Foster Parentsni arenr. P never know where the needs may be. So all fosterxd kiqm go through about a four to sixmonth preparation process. nini during that time they are going whereok they learni]ninr aboas how to manage loss and trau j before they come into this. Jf also the home study,my which imni sure you all can talklp about,ym which isni about a fathreemonthco process where social workers are going into yourjf home and interviewing you and getting you prepared fort might come to xdyou. What are some of the Biggest Challenges andfa obstacles you face . T t q probably with the 16yearold 16yearold. Education and not really doing what hes supposed to be doing to getlpco ahead. Since xdseptember. u. its mo ejfi] like hes going back and not forward and were tryingxd to d f withq thatok right now. Ko your a man ynr Law Enforcement youve got love as well as disciplineu children. Tzyernxdnbq all of them. Ryan understands where i comenb from. Q give him a look and its saidq and done. With jfxdpreston i k him down and said ive been in your shoes, ive been through what youve been through, im not telling you what you dont know but something is going on with the hes not getting it. Im still working with him. How do you help parents in this position . Its really a teamfa effort right, so they are not in this alone. There a e ocial workers andr therapists and other peopler are going to try to wrap their arms around thisnrco family so they getokg the chil the truth is our childrenfa come out of traumatic situations. Any one of us who have gone tjwauhpc situation the child has gone throughkb ould have maybe a more severe reaction. Pretraining is really critical to givv themq skills so they are prepared for these issues when they crop e1up. This remarkable 8 ÷otijob. We were talking about thexd greenroom about some of their siblings that remain in their lives. Even if they have gone on to its really important you give them those nuggets and plant those seeds. Hopefullyjf they will eventually learn what youre trying to teach them. Gilda, how have your foster children blendedr biological children . aeyc fine. You know, we havet our arguments but weok talk about everything. It could be something really simple. Major toni them but simple tonrni us. As far as like one sister wearing another sisters clothes. They are the same size. Im like whats thefa xncocproblem . The regular issues. Who iscoq in the bathroom first who is the last one in the bathroom. We try to do it in strides as far as who goes first, who goes usually i let all the girls go first and the boys go last. Weve got to take a break. Well continue talkingxd about the joys9 in the clifford household when we come back and whatni miss bun is helping the continue Foster Parenting. Stay with us. Welcome back, weret talkingxdjfr about National Foster care month. Were talk to model foster care parents this comorning. Jf gilda and ste n clifford are the parents of the year in i want to talk to you for a from foster care tog news 4s n Barbara Harris workedi] with wednesdays child for many years. She talksco tot me about how many parentsxd fall in loveco with theirxgj foster families. Have yout thought about adoption . Of xdcourse. Ive always wanted to do it. Q weni eventually will whenever we ask. Xd r t hahp hc when they come in the home, they are supposed to go home and everythingt work out. Like myq first, i just figured they would stay with me forever. That was probably the┐ atau onet ni to hit home f love. Tough. Very tough. Not just for me. My husband for all theq kids in the home. It was really komybad. Stefan, whatlp are yournir thuj about that . Is it toughq to fall in love with a child who falls in love with you, with a familyu and havev letko them go . Its real tough. The first,nr it hurt. It really r but were in it for the long run. Were in for foster care, adoption, whatever they need were here. So youre open to thei]ni process of adoption. I] camila, what about that . Your÷d goal is to find permanency for these children, not to have to transition them from one place to the ager. Do you encourage parewvq who want to adopt to becomei] fier parents first . Its a great way to one, learn a little bit about the children who youko might adopt in the futurer parent. Its a greatni wayxd to givenis7 back. Its a great way to help your . 5 i think these folks are very community minded. Those aret the type of people were hoping tow3e1 attract asq Foster Parents. Bringing a child into their home anni giving back to their r community. Itsqcnjf very selfless act being axd Foster Parent because they love and let go sometimes. But i think aeq sjt fosterxd parents talk about how itsi] challenging to love and let go. But at the same time its even more challenging to imagine a child doesnt have a home and doesnt have someawhoever, love them. I think thats what keeps fosterok parents going and keeps them on their mission to help children in their timee of need. And talk about their need forxd permanency. How did you have is it on a child to go intojf a home and to feel part of a family. Right. And to know that its om temporary. Right. Xd well, sometimesfajf they might stay for the long haul with that foster family. Sometimes theyt co might go backe q to their birth family. How they brought in the number of people who love them. co they know now they havew3coxd more love, morenr people who care a zm7a ] ju em. The cliffords were telling me in the greenroom, they have they technically were we unified with their birth family but they still come over. Is that right . They would like to comenr everycokoni weekend, if possible but we of course, dont3gn be ddaq the o4 r spaces areko fi they still come. They dont care wherexd they are. Were supposed to get them this weekend. Do they still sort of see you let me tellc you we 9qok to walmart andt we sawr just yelledco outok mom, dad, ran to us. Whats going cocmzojjn hugged us and everything. That brought tears to my eyes. It was jfcosr r t hahp hc withfa fo ii parents thats what happens. The kids see them as mom and theyt bond withxd r it brought in the people who care about our children. Gilda do the children call you mom . R xd 3 all call you mom . Yes. Theyq all do. Its weird at first but you get used to it. You know, because you think about their family. Dont want them to call you mom or dad. Its just normal in our household. We have a lot of other kids with their momco and dad,lp so they askr can we call youq mom or dad. We get that a lot. Can wet call youlp mom ore1 dad. Of cour e weve g p to take another break. Stay with us. Well be right back. 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Frontline plus. The vets 1 choice. Xd welcome sv4back. e camila talk about the finances, what are they paid. I t a k the cliffords would agreoie1qt they are paid inq lovejf. Seriously theres a stipend that iahp hc the child. It depends on the county and state youre in the amount. Therest ni also every child comes with their ownni medical insurance. T the idea is to have notni be a h t hahp hc burde on anyone. Xphr t hahp hc if you wantnr to give back to your community as a fosterfalp parent, we want people to we want toxd removeq all barriers to that by stipend for the care of the child as well. What are you currently doing to recruit Foster Parents. 08 u need more. Were doing shows like this. Thank you for having us. We also have af tz series right now. If you were to go on our facebook page,t you wouldlp see the video series featuring the cliffords and all the other foster families of the year fori z hr t hahp hc each of our counties. Q we are planning an adoption and dos we go out and do booths and all kinds of activities. Mostc child here on channelxd 4 news has been a Wonderful Program in a way for us not only toq recruit for thatco child featured but also all children. Theres only going to be one parent for that wednesdays child. But all theu people we callg hope willu become a Foster Parent for aw q child. Gilda and nistefan there may be people watching who say id like to do it. Trrr h ittle scared to do it. R what wouldokqt you say to t them . I wouldt telljf them to go to the class, ob all thee1 information. Wh 1, we went to the class, it was educational to me. I learned a lot that nrday. Were you afraid beforeni you went to the class. I couldnt wait. I was. One was afraid one wa ÷ anxious to do it. The stories i could tell you in thatco class. What about stories in your family . Youve been Foster Parents in two years. In two g rs youve become models. Surprising. Youve become role models. What have been some of the highlights for you . o you tw when they come. Im always excited when they you go through a lot just to rearrange, to accommodate. To comefa home every nightr see these smiling fafafaces its w3 awesome. Thats me. I have a long day atni work. I come home in the morning, the kids wake up. Good morning, daddy good ok morning, mommy. Hugs. Its great. All the inspiration you need. Thats it. Well,fa stefanxd and xe. Gilda congratulations on your new and expanded family and on your9 big, giant loving heart. Thank you. Keep up the big work. Camila thank you somy much forxd what youre doing. Thank you for having me. Thank you for beingq with us. If you find you have room in your homp1 and heart f . R anxmq child, well put ther on the screen. Thanks for being with us. Im pat lawson muse. Stay with us for new a news 4 today starts now. Right now on news 4 today, a huge show of patriotism will play out on the national mall. Hundreds of bikers will pay respect with a ride in honor of our service members. That means major closures. It also means we need seriously good bike riding weather. We have that on tap. Not just for today but stick around for the holiday weekend, the forecast looking quite promising. Just released in connection to the murder of a d. C. Family and their housekeeper. Good morning and welcome to news 4 today on this sunday morning. Im ad