Monday, April 09, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Foster care agencies in Ohio are looking for more bilingual parents to care for immigrant children.
Franklin County Children Services, which serves Columbus, wants to recruit more bilingual and ethnic foster parents in anticipation of more ethnic children in foster care as the immigrant population grows, agency spokeswoman Kay Marshall said. The agency has advertised in Latino newspapers and plans to have a booth at an upcoming event.
Seventy-five of the 1,882 Franklin County children in foster care in February were Latino and two were Somali, Marshall said. "We're trying to be more representative in the homes; we have to match the community," she said.
Being removed from their homes can be traumatic enough for children, and a foster home with a different language, culture and food only can make things more difficult, said Josue Vicente, executive director of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition.
"It creates confusion for the kid, being educated in one culture then going into foster care with a different ethnicity in an environment that is different from what you have been taught your entire life," Vicente said.
Immigrants in Columbus represent 130 countries and speak 105 languages, according to the city's Community Relations Commission.
Reynaldo and Delcina Cordova, both teachers in Columbus, cared for two Latino foster children last year.
"It could have been a little sense of us versus them," said Reynaldo Cordova, 32, who is of Mexican descent and speaks some Spanish. He said that helped ease the transition for the children, who are bilingual.
A Latino girl who stayed with the couple enjoyed eating familiar food, said Delcina Cordova, 37, who is of American Indian descent.
"We do Mexican breakfasts; having that was comforting for her," she said.
In Lorain County, just west of Cleveland, having Latino caseworkers has helped boost the number of Latino and bilingual foster families to 18, said Patti-Jo Burtnett, spokeswoman for that county's Children Services.
Lorain County's foreign-born population is 2.4 percent, according to U.S. Census data.
"We have caseworkers who can go out to speak to people in Spanish and have conversations and understand the culture," she said.
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
Source: AP, April 09, 2007