City of Blackfoot tips hat to foster parents

The month of May is national foster care month.

The city of Blackfoot is recognizing foster parents with the tip of its hat.

One Church One Child is a partnership between the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Communities of Faith and other invested partners working together to improve outcomes for children in Idaho.

The city recognizes the very special foster parents who support the families who need them.

“We have so many great foster care families that take in kids from all over the community,” Erin O’Shaughnessy, the liaison for One Church One Child, said. “We really just wanted to take a moment to tip our hats to them and say, you guys are awesome we noticed all the hard work you do and we so appreciate it.”

Idaho has a huge need for foster care service.

An issue that foster care organizations come across is finding families to care for children in their community.

“We very much in need for foster families in Southeastern Idaho,” O’Shaughnessy said. “We have so many kids that need care and we don’t know what to do them. Social workers are calling our current foster families asking them to take more children in.”

Oftentimes, social workers find that the situation is harder when looking for homes to keep siblings together.

There are a lot of misconceptions about becoming a foster parent.

One Church One Child would like to clarify to the public that to be a foster parent you
have to be 21 and older.

Single individuals and same-sex couples are welcomed to be foster parents.

Marriage is not a requirement.

Homeownership is not a prerequisite; they welcome renters.

“There are a lot more options for you to potentially foster then maybe you realized,” said O’Shaughnessy.

For further information about foster care, contact O’Shaughnessy by email at eoshaughnessy@ewu.edu or visit here.