CAMDEN — By BRADLY GILL
Staff writer
According to information provided by The CALL during a recent meeting, a faith based organization partnered with Arkansas’s Division of Children and Family Services, on average Ouachita County has between 30-40 children at any given point in foster care.
However, there are only three foster families in Ouachita County.
Around the state, around 8,500 children spend time in foster care in Arkansas every year, and there are around 5,200 children in foster care in the state.
The CALL is a 5013c that started in Pulaski County in 2007, when Mary Carol Pederson and a group of believers began to help the children they learned were in foster care. The CALL now has 47 active affiliates across the state of Arkansas.
Ouachita County’s coordinator is Wesley Stewart.
“That means overseeing all the different aspects of it within our county, so planning and executing informational meetings, helping families begin and complete the process to foster or adoptive families and other needs as they arise, fundraisers things like that,” Stewart said.
Stewart stated that The CALL in Ouachita County consists of seven volunteers.
“Children are put into to care for two different reasons: One of those is any type of neglect - be that physical or sexual abuse any type of maltreatment, if it gets to the point to where it’s reported to the state, then there’s a case opened,” said Stewart. “It’s investigated and if it’s proven that these parents aren’t doing what they are supposed to be with their children, then they (children) are taken away. DHS gets a bad rap because people assume they are just walking in and stealing children, but that’s not the case.”
She continued: “That’s the primary need, especially in our county. But also if the parents were in an accident and they both died, then the children, at that point, DHS is going to be looking for someone to take care of these kids. Usually even if it’s just for 24 hours. It takes a little while to find immediate family that will take these kids in.
“What the call is all about is finding Christian families to take on these kids. Because I think that’s a big miscommunication through our advertising. People assume, ‘Oh, they’re just a foster-care agency.’ Well, we’re not. We are a partner of the state, but our goal is to work with churches and with Christians that have a desire to foster and adopt.”
The CALL assists DCFS in recruiting four types of homes:
• Foster
Provides a safe, loving home and cares for the child’s needs while working towards reunification with all parties including the biological family, if possible.
• Adopt
Provides a forever family to a child or children that no longer has a family to return to.
• Respite
Provides support for the regular foster homes by caring for children for 72 hours up to two weeks at a time.
• Emergency
Provides temporary care for a child entering foster care while an appropriate placement is found.
Stewart said that there are a number of reasons why the numbers are so low for foster families in Ouachita County. The process to be confirmed by the state is often lengthy and intimidating, and the economic demands of fostering or adopting might simply be too much for certain families.
But another reason is simply lack of knowledge about The CALL and the services they provide.
She said, “We encourage anyone and everyone to attend an informational meeting simply because that’s how they learn what it really means and what it looks like, but also how they can serve.”
Stewart shared that The CALL is also looking for volunteers to provide even basic things like cooking meals, or time to babysit, to more detailed work like managing fundraisers.
The basic requirements to foster or adopt are:
• Must be at least 21 years of age
• Must complete state criminal, child maltreatment, DMV, and FBI background checks
• Must be financially stable
• Must pass a medical exam
• Must provide three non-related references
• Must have at least 50 square feet of space in bedrooms for a foster child - i.e., 10x10 bedroom is sufficient for two children.
• Must keep over-the-counter medications in an area not readily accessible by children, and must keep all prescription medications locked - excluding Epi-pens, inhalers, and glucagon kits.
• Meet all other state licensing requirements
Stewart can be contacted at (870) 675-0138 ,and more information about The CALL can be found at https://thecallinarkansas.org/