News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Finding foster placement for some 800 children in need of homes across the Upper Cumberland has been a challenge during the pandemic.
That’s according to Youth Villages Senior Treatment Foster Care Counselor and Development Specialist Tara Shepherd. Shepherd said the biggest challenge they face are families more focused on maintaining than adding during the pandemic.
“We’ve had a couple of situations where we have just been trying to find homes for kids,” Shepherd said. “We’ve contacted them, and they refuse the taking of placements cause they don’t know where the child has been or they don’t know if they were exposed.”
The Youth Village turned to video classes to help recruit and certify foster parents.
“We had to get really creative in our recruiting process and how we try to bring interested parents in,” Shepherd said. “Also, how we are training parents who want to become foster parents.”
One positive Shepherd takes away from the pandemic are the new ways the Youth Village has used technology to serve children.
“I think it is going to make us stronger,” Shepherd said. “I think it shows us we can get through obstacles if we just all come together.”
Shepherd said she hopes the use of video trainings for foster parents increases the ability to recruit in the future.
