According to Christa Hefel, the recruitment and training manager for Four Oaks, the entire state is seeing a need for foster families. However, the big area of need in this area is for sibling groups.

“We do need families for children of all ages,” said Hefel. “We are definitely short on foster homes everywhere in the state. There is definitely a big need in northwest Iowa.”

“One other large area of need is for teens,” she added. “That’s children over the age of 10.”

Hefel said Four Oaks has lost a lot of foster families for various reasons, including retirement, families adopting their foster children and others just ready to move into another stage of life.

“When a foster parent retires or moves on, we need parents to replace them,” said Hefel. “Right now, those replacements are not coming as fast as those leaving. We definitely need to fill those spots.”

The process to become a foster parent has several steps to complete:

• Complete an online inquiry at https://iowafosterandadoption.org/start-the-process/

• Complete an orientation session available at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Sunday evenings or every other Tuesday at noon. This is a virtual learning session for an hour with a Four Oaks recruiter learning about the rules, definitions and benefits of fostering.

∫ Sign up for class. NTDC classes are offered often throughout the state. They are three-hour classes offered weekly for 11 weeks.

During the class, attendees will complete the licensing process of a home study. A licensing worker will come to a family’s home and meet with a family and review the process.

Once applicants have completed the class and home study, a Four Oaks licensing worker submits all documents to the state Department of Health and Human Services to review. That agency reviews and issues a foster care license or adoption approval depending on the situation.

The youth shelter in Fort Dodge has five children waiting for foster placement right now, as there are currently no homes available for them.

One former foster parent, who asked not to be identified, had more than 25 children live with them since becoming licensed in 2015. The parent said there are a lot of challenges to being a foster parent, but the positives outweigh them.

“Some advice I would give would be to ensure you have a support system to lean on when things are difficult,” said this former foster parent. “Join the support groups in your area. Use unconditional positive regard when referring to biological parents who have their children removed.”

The former foster parent said it’s almost critical to have clear expectations, routines and family rules and allow plenty of time to “practice” those during the early days of placement.

“(You) need to give second chances when there is a mistake made and start each morning with a clean slate,” said the former foster parent. “Also teaching kids how to do different things that might be developmentally younger than their age is something that we learned. Many of the children in our home simply did not know how to do different things like put a dish in a dishwasher or even clear their plates off the dinner table. These were not expectations in the past.”

The former foster parent said they received a phone call almost immediately after completing classes for placement of a 9-month old, highlighting the need for placement homes even in 2015.

“That child stayed with me for 18 days while the state was doing safety assessments for other family members to place the young child with and then was moved to a family member that was approved safe” said the former parent. “After that, the phone really never stopped ringing.”

The former foster parent said there are some big challenges when taking on the role of a foster family.

Those include not knowing the longevity of how long a child would be living with them, not fully understanding all the “why” things were being handled the way they were but also knowing that it was not their business as there is still confidentiality involved in these cases, and finally working hard to maintain a relationship with biological parents.

“I think (the final one) is a challenge for many but is also one of the most important things a foster parent can do. Most of the time, children unconditionally love their parents and want to be home with their families. They believe that mistakes can be made and their parents will make better choices,” the former foster parent said. “That is part of their innocence which is why remaining a support for the biological parent and keeping your own beliefs and comments to yourself is extremely important when providing foster care to a child. The journey is usually not easy for neither the child in care nor the family providing the care, but we have created some ‘bonus families’ with kids who have lived with us and, for us, it was 100 percent worth it.”

Anyone that would be interested in becoming a foster home should start by going to the Four Oaks website at https://iowafosterandadoption.org. There is a multitude of information on that site and links to start the process of becoming a foster home.