By Doug Dickinson
Staff Writer
HOULTON — The month of May is recognized nationally as Foster Parent Appreciation Month and Community Health & Counseling is using the opportunity to acknowledge area foster parents. The organization will put on dinners with entertainment at its Houlton, Caribou and Fort Kent locations.
Chuck Moody is the foster home developer at Community Health & Counseling. Moody takes care of an area that encompasses Mars Hill to Danforth with approximately 20 foster homes in Houlton. He explained the purpose of Appreciation Month.
“It’s a way to celebrate foster parents and what they do for children. They open up their homes for children with special needs and it takes a special person to do that,” said Moody. “We work closely with a lot of foster parents and they don’t get a lot of recognition. We just want them to be recognized as professionals and caring people.”Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Doug Dickinson
FOSTER PARENTS — Bob and Michele King of Island Falls built a home at the former Milliken Hospital that could house up to 18 boys. When they found out that the State of Maine currently doesn’t support group homes, they decided to be foster parents until things change.
According to Moody, being a foster parent is important because they take care of children that can’t live with [their own] family members.
“Usually they are in the custody of the State and if there is no place for a child to go, the next best thing is a foster home because they … learn how to live in a family,” he said.
Moody said that Community Health & Counseling Services provides mental health services, skill building services and therapy services for foster children in order to support foster parents.
Bob and Michele King of Island Falls have been foster parents since December 2010. They currently have two 17-year-old boys who live in their home and have plans for more.
Michele said that she thinks Foster Parents Appreciation Month should be changed to show recognition to foster children, especially those who are teen boys.
“These young men are so hard to find homes for because everyone wants the little kids. It is easy for society to look at them and their issues and shy away from them. But every one of them has something special inside waiting to be nurtured,” she said.
“A trust factor must be built with each child. Every foster home is different with the expectations and rules in their homes. With 17-year-olds, we focus on building their responsibility to become independent.”
For more information on Foster Parent Appreciation Month you can call Moody or Peter Crovo at Community Health & Counseling at (207) 532-5510.