WEBVTT WLKY’S CHRISTINA MORA HAS MORE NOW ON WHO CAN BE A FOSTER PARENT. CHRISTINA: THE SIGNS ARE EVERYWHERE. THE STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES NEED FOSTER PARENTS. AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT OR HAVE A CONVENTIONAL FAMILY TO , DO IT. [CHILDREN SQUEALING] >> I DIDN’T KNOW THEY ALLOWED ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF PARENTS TO BE PARENTS TO KIDS THAT WERE IN THE STATE. I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST TWO-PARENT HOMES HONESTLY. ,CHRISTINA: KIM FORMAN IS A SINGLE MOM OF FOUR. HER TWO OLDEST ARE BIOLOGICAL. AND HER TWO YOUNGEST ARE IN KENTUCKY’S FOSTER CARE SYSTEM. >> I JUST WANTED TO TAKE CARE OF KIDS. I JUST DIDN’T KNOW I COULD. I WAS A SINGLE PARENT AND I DIDN’T KNOW I COULD BUT GOD JUST , KIND OF LED ME THAT WAY. CHRISTINA: FORMAN WENT THROUGH TRAINING AT MARYHURST ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO. SHE QUICKLY LEARNED THESE CHILDREN DON’T NEED PERFECTION. >> WE WANTED TO START A FAMILY . AND I TRIED FOR A COUPLE YEARS TO GET PREGNANT, AND IT NEVER HAPPENED. AND THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP FOR US WAS FOSTER CARE. WE WANTED TO HELP KIDS WHO NEEDED A HOME. CHRISTINA ANGIE AND DAWN BARTLEY : ADOPTED THEIR LITTLE GIRL FROM FOSTER CARE A FEW YEARS AGO. >> SHE CAME TO US AT THREE MONTHS OLD, AND WE ADOPTED AT TWO-AND-A-HALF. CHRISTINE: -- CHRISTINA: THE COUPLE SAYS THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION NEVER BECAME AN ISSUE DURING THE PROCESS. ACCORDING TO THE STATE’S CABINET FOR HEALTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, 9891 CHILDREN WERE IN CARE AS OF OCTOBER 7, THE HIGHEST IT’S EVER BEEN. OFFICIALS SAY THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC IS TO BLAME. >> IF YOU HAVE EVER EVER THOUGHT ABOUT, REMOTELY, TAKING IN A CHILD, EVEN RESPITE, ANY PART THAT YOU COULD CARE FOR A KID, GIVE LOVE TO A KID I SAY DO IT. , CHRISTINA IN ORDER TO BECOME A
Kentucky foster parents in high demand
Updated: 6:00 PM EDT Oct 18, 2018
While Gov. Matt Bevin pushes for foster care reform, the number of children entering the system is growing at a record pace. Foster parents are in high demand throughout Kentucky to help nearly 10,000 kids find a home.“I didn’t know they allowed all different types of parents to be parents to kids that were in the system, I thought it was just two-parent homes honestly,” said Kim Forman, a foster parent.Forman is a single mom of four; her two oldest are biological, and her two youngest are in the foster care system. “I just wanted to take care of kids, I just didn’t know I could, I was a single parent and I didn’t know I could, but God just kind of led me that way.”Forman went through training at Maryhurst about two years ago. She quickly learned, these children don’t need perfection.“We wanted to start a family and I tried for a couple years to get pregnant and it never happened, and the next logical step for us was foster care, we wanted to help kids who needed a home,” said Angie Bartley, an adoptive mom.Angie and her wife Dawn adopted their little girl from foster care a few years ago. “It was 883 days before we officially adopted her, she came to us at 3 months old and we adopted at 2 and a half,” said Dawn Bartley.The couple said their sexual orientation never became an issue during the process.According to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 9,891 children were in care as of Oct. 7. That’s the highest it’s ever been. Officials said the opioid epidemic is to blame.“A perfect family can be lots of different blends, colors and sizes and ages, all kinds of things,” said Karen Henderson, Maryhurst Embrace Foster Care director. “You don’t have to be perfect, you can be single, married, some families are separated or divorced, some that are same sex.”“If you have ever ever thought about remotely taking in a child, even respite, any part that you could care for a kid, give love to a kid I say do it,” said Forman.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While Gov. Matt Bevin pushes for foster care reform, the number of children entering the system is growing at a record pace. Foster parents are in high demand throughout Kentucky to help nearly 10,000 kids find a home.
“I didn’t know they allowed all different types of parents to be parents to kids that were in the system, I thought it was just two-parent homes honestly,” said Kim Forman, a foster parent.
Forman is a single mom of four; her two oldest are biological, and her two youngest are in the foster care system. “I just wanted to take care of kids, I just didn’t know I could, I was a single parent and I didn’t know I could, but God just kind of led me that way.”
Forman went through training at Maryhurst about two years ago. She quickly learned, these children don’t need perfection.
“We wanted to start a family and I tried for a couple years to get pregnant and it never happened, and the next logical step for us was foster care, we wanted to help kids who needed a home,” said Angie Bartley, an adoptive mom.
Angie and her wife Dawn adopted their little girl from foster care a few years ago. “It was 883 days before we officially adopted her, she came to us at 3 months old and we adopted at 2 and a half,” said Dawn Bartley.
The couple said their sexual orientation never became an issue during the process.
According to the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 9,891 children were in care as of Oct. 7. That’s the highest it’s ever been. Officials said the opioid epidemic is to blame.
“A perfect family can be lots of different blends, colors and sizes and ages, all kinds of things,” said Karen Henderson, Maryhurst Embrace Foster Care director. “You don’t have to be perfect, you can be single, married, some families are separated or divorced, some that are same sex.”
“If you have ever ever thought about remotely taking in a child, even respite, any part that you could care for a kid, give love to a kid I say do it,” said Forman.