UPDATE:
Lt. Gov. Denn emailed me the following in response to some concerns in the comments below.
Just saw some of the comments on the web site about foster care. For what it is worth, the foster parents who are recruited through this initiative are going to be working with private agencies such as Children and Families First and Children’s Choice that contract with the state to oversee and assist foster families — not directly with the Division of Family Services, though DFS is ultimately responsible for the safety and welfare of the children. Right now responsibility for overseeing foster parents is split between DFS and these private agencies, but the new families will go exclusively to the agencies, where hopefully there are not as many concerns.
If any foster family is concerned about its interaction with the state or about a rule that the family thinks is unreasonable, I would like to know about it. We want this to work, there is no point recruiting all these new families if they are not going to stick around. People can contact me at my state e-mail (matthew.denn@state.de.us), I read all of them myself.
We have a foster family shortage in Delaware. The number of foster children that need homes outpaces the number of foster families available to take them in, by an astounding 2 to 1 margin. Therefore, Lt. Governor Matt Denn is asking religious organizations, churches, mosques, and synagogues from around the state to ask their congregations to consider opening their homes for these foster children.
“These are kids who have been dealt some of the toughest hands of any kids in our state,” says Lt. Gov. Matt Denn. “Many of them are in foster care because they were abused, because they were neglected, because they were abandoned by the people who were supposed to take care of them.”
He’s reaching out to churches in Delaware in hopes of finding just one family in each congregation to consider opening their home to one of these foster kids. “We have a moral obligation to make things okay for them. To give them a stable and a loving environment in which to live.”
As Lt. Governor Denn said to me, this is the kind of issue where people of disparate opinions and different religions can come together and work together, and he said, during the press events announcing this initiative throughout the state, “it really was encouraging to see everyone on the same page about something.”
So if you have the means and the opportunity, consider opening your home to a child in need. Below is the recruitment video on this initiative that has been pulled together.
