{"id":1320309,"date":"2020-06-02T17:54:18","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T23:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996914"},"modified":"2020-06-02T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T23:54:18","slug":"garfield-county-foster-care-program-provides-safe-haven-to-children-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/garfield-county-foster-care-program-provides-safe-haven-to-children-in-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Garfield County Foster Care Program provides \u2018safe haven\u2019 to children in need"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"753\" height=\"464\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/GettyImages-1159094800.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/GettyImages-1159094800.jpg 753w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/06\/GettyImages-1159094800-300x185.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 753px) 100vw, 753px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Happy family: mother, father, children son and daughter on nature on sunset<\/strong><br \/><em>Happy family: mother, father, children son and daughter on sunset<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>For over a decade, foster families throughout Garfield County have provided so much more than mere shelter to displaced children.<\/p>\n<p>They have also shown compassion and offered hope to kids experiencing hardship at home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a need to grow a foster program so that we could keep our children and youth in our county,\u201d said Susan Garcia, Garfield County Foster Care Adoption Supervisor. \u201cFoster homes provide a safe haven and structure for children and youth when their birth families cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Garcia said the county\u2019s foster care program tries to avoid having children removed from their homes by offering support services to families experiencing difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOur goal with foster care is to always work with the birth families\u2026to have their children remain with them,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThat\u2019s our first priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the event that a child is removed from his or her home, the county will attempt to locate a close relative for the child to stay with temporarily.<\/p>\n<p>However, if another family member cannot help, the county will place the child with a local, foster family.<\/p>\n<p>At times, up to 50 children can be in need of foster families in Garfield County.<\/p>\n<p>According to Foster Care Coordinator Lindsay Zimmer, currently, the county has 16 foster families it coordinates with to assist children.<\/p>\n<p>Zimmer hadn\u2019t noticed a significant influx in the number of children in need of foster families during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>However, Zimmer also said the county was always recruiting foster families, particularly those able to assist older children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenerally, our need is always for the older kids,\u201d Zimmer said. \u201cThe middle school, the high school age range.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Residents interested in becoming foster parents should contact <a href=\"https:\/\/www.garfield-county.com\/human-services\/email-lindsay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garfield County Human Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a pretty lengthy process to become a foster parent,\u201d Zimmer said.<\/p>\n<p>The application process can take between 60 and 90 days and includes extensive interviews, hours of training, health evaluations and reference checks, Zimmer said.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases a child might live with a foster family for the weekend and in other instances, years.<\/p>\n<p>Erin, who could not provide her last name due to privacy concerns, has been a foster parent in Garfield County for the last three years and in that time has fostered seven children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFoster care has tough moments,\u201d Erin said. \u201cBut it also has incredibly beautiful, wonderful moments that will change your life and make you a better person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:mabennett@postindependent.com\">mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/garfield-county-foster-care-program-provides-safe-haven-to-children-in-need\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy family: mother, father, children son and daughter on nature on sunsetHappy family: mother, father, children son and daughter on sunset For over a decade, foster families throughout Garfield County have provided so much more than mere shelter to displaced children. They have also shown compassion and offered hope to kids experiencing hardship at home. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1320309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-03 20:08:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}