[Noozhawk’s note: First in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation.]
Meichelle Arntz was shocked to witness the extent to which young foster children were shuffled from home to home. That impermanence wasn’t good for their development; it created lifelong attachment issues. With no local programs offering a solution, she developed one.
In 2006, her Santa Barbara-based nonprofit Angels Foster Care placed its first child in a long-term foster home. The program since has expanded to Santa Ynez, Lompoc and Santa Maria. To date, 230 foster children have received such care, half of them ultimately adopted into forever families.
“To know we made a difference makes it worth our effort and time, whether it means sending the babies back healthy to their families or to their new, forever home,” said Cindy Hernandez, who fosters in Santa Maria with her husband, Wally.
Arntz, a registered nurse specializing in high-risk pregnancies and child birth, was no stranger to the challenges faced by babies who get a rough start to life.
“A Harvard medical study showed that kids who went through public foster programs exhibited far above the national average in medical problems, problems with addiction, crimes, drugs, psychological issues,” she said.
“Kids in private programs where there was more stability and more interaction with adults who were invested in them didn’t show negative behaviors beyond the averages of the general population.”
But it wasn’t until she volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in 2003 that Arntz saw firsthand what she felt were holes in the local foster care system.
“My first sibling pair were 2 and 5 when they were assigned to me by CASA,” she said. “In the first year I was with them, they got moved seven times. I was completely blown away.”
The boys already were involved in a tragic situation, but the constant moving created severe attachment issues that followed them into adulthood.
“They had a lot of difficulties because of the situation they were in with their biological family that was not ideal,” Arntz said. “Then they came into this program that was supposed to protect them, but they got moved everywhere. It was devastating.”
She was driven to tears when the boys asked, “Why don’t they want us?”
And so was born Angels Foster Care with its focus on keeping Santa Barbara County’s youngest children in a safe, secure, loving home throughout their families’ journeys through the court system.
“Attachment disorders are preventable if we can do things differently,” Arntz said. “The first two years are key.”
Angels Foster Care addresses the challenge through its own dedicated network of social workers, special training for foster families, and a mandatory time commitment. It also provided a pathway that could lead foster children to remain with foster families ultimately through adoption, creating a nearly seamless family situation for growing children.
“The way our program is different is the focus on the things we felt were important: only one foster placement goes in a home,” Arntz said. “Just one. Full stop.
“Whether it’s siblings or a singleton, we don’t want to see a foster home overwhelmed with eight kids coming and going. We want things very stable.”
In addition, Angels Foster Care parents commit to their foster children for as long as it takes the court system to settle whatever issues are at hand with the biological parents.
“We are also unique in that we require our homes to have one full-time parent in the home,” Angels Foster Care executive director Holly Carmody explained.
“Our volunteers go through psychological screening to make sure foster care is a good fit for them. And we have a team of highly experienced social workers who understand the issues babies going into foster care face.”
Currently, 19 children are placed in Angels Foster Care family homes, but there remains a demand for additional host families. Carmody said there are roughly 400 foster children in Santa Barbara County at any one time, and about one-quarter of those are younger than 5.
“Babies really need to bond and attach to their caregivers, so bouncing around from place to place is not a good thing when the brain is developing,” she said. “That impermanence can lead to emotional, social, physical and psychological problems.
“So really, giving these babies the opportunity to be loved and cared for in safe, stable homes makes a huge difference for the rest of their lives. The goal of Angels is to provide that for every baby who needs it.”
Click here for more information about Angels Foster Care, including how to become a foster family. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Jennifer Best can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.