Foster care families open hearts, homes
For years, a Vanderbilt woman has been a caregiver, providing both basic human needs as well as emotional support to those in need. Starting with a personal care home for the elderly in Uniontown, which she ran for 2 1/2 years from 1998 to 2001, Charlotte Barker has since gone on to open her cozy ranch-style home located on 44 wooded acres to those who probably would otherwise live in an institutional setting.
“When I sold my personal care home in 2001, I brought one of the older ladies home with me,” said Barker.
Her household grew that same year when a friend told her about her participation in a domiciliary care program run by the state for mental health/ mental retardation clients ages 18 and older. After looking into the program, she ended up welcoming a 20-year-old woman who lived with her for four years before eventually returning to her mother’s home.
“It was while I was involved in the domiciliary care program that I met someone who acquainted me with a foster care program through PA MENTOR,” she said.
A national for-profit service agency providing residential rehabilitation services since 1980, MENTOR specializes in serving emotionally troubled children and adolescents and developmentally disabled people of all ages. Locally, the program services a seven-county regional area in southwestern Pennsylvania from an office in Penn Hills, Allegheny County.
From that office, social worker Linda Pacella recruits foster parents, called mentors, for children troubled by behavioral or mental health issues that cover everything from autism to mental retardation. Most of the agency’s referrals come from Children, Youth and Family Services, a child-protective service agency, group homes or from residential treatment facilities, where children receive housing, education and mental health treatment.
“I recruit parents 21 years old or older from all economic, racial, ethnic, educational and social backgrounds,” said Pacella. “Some are single parents, some are retired and some are working.”
To find mentors, Pacella mans information booths at fairs, flea markets and other events and places ads in area newspapers. She also schedules recruitment talks at church groups and other social organizations. Still, finding people willing to open their homes to a stranger with disabilities isn’t always easy.
“If I work an event for a few days, for instance, I feel fortunate if I come away with one or two mentor families,” she said.
In the past four years, Charlotte Barker and her husband, Michael, a retired mill worker at the U.S. Steel plant in Clairton, have served as mentors for seven children. The first, a 16-year-old girl, stayed with them for a month. Others have stayed for as long as three years.
Currently, the family cares for three residents who share their home. One, a 66-year-old elderly woman named Joan has been with them for 31/2 years under the domiciliary care program. Two teenage girls also live in the home as participants of the MENTOR program. One has been living with the family for a year and a half. The other, a 14-year-old called Marie for purposes of confidentiality, arrived in June of 2005.
“This is the longest I’ve ever lived at one place,” said Marie, who’s had numerous placements from an early age through the foster care program. “I really like it here because the food is great, my mentors are great, the trampoline outside is great and I love the animals (five cats, three dogs and three horses). I really want to fit in here because I want to plant roots somewhere. Fortunately, I feel more settled here than anywhere else I’ve lived.”
Originally from eastern Pennsylvania, Marie said she misses her 15-year-old brother who still lives back East with his adoptive parents, but manages to talk to him by phone at least once a month. The siblings also exchange gifts with one another from time to time.
The mentor family prefers that Marie and their other charges call them grandma and grandpa because they already have a mother and father. Michael Barker, 62, calls himself the backup and bus driver, while Charlotte Barker, “a few years younger,” he calls “the boss.”
“I enjoy doing things for the children that their parents haven’t been able to – like keeping them clean, fed and involved in their school,” said Charlotte Barker, who also has driven Marie to dance classes and an outing to Idlewild Park in Ligonier and another of her children to Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Pacella said the trick to being a good mentor is to have structure in the home and a flexible schedule, and the family seems to be successful with this skill. Early after they arrive, they inform their charges about the house rules and regulations, such as keeping their room clean and helping with other chores as well.
“I find that one of the greatest challenges in being a mentor is dealing with the children’s families,” said Charlotte Barker. “For instance, I once drove one of my children to Somerset to meet her mother only to have the woman not show up. Something like that can be crushing to a child.”
Marie probably will remain with the family until she graduates from high school, unless she is adopted by another family.
After that, Pacella said it’s probably best for Marie to go out on her own and become an independent person.
“Children who move out often call back for emotional support and advice,” said Charlotte Barker, whose 39-year-old son, Raymond, lives next door. “They also stop in to visit from time to time.”
While gratifying and rewarding, mentoring also can be a very difficult job, and the commitment mentors make to their charges is often mind-boggling.
“The people who mentor do it out of the goodness of their hearts and because they want to help someone in need,” said Pacella. “I like to say that they have to have a room in their heart as well as a room in their home to participate in the program.”
Research at the agency shows that candidates usually take a year thinking about becoming a mentor before they phone the agency to follow up on their initial interest. After that, it usually takes about two months to become a licensed mentor.
To qualify, candidates must have both abuse and criminal record clearances. The intake process also includes home fire and safety evaluation, personal interviews with each member of the household, employment and personal references and a medical exam.
“Mentors have to be both mentally and physically healthy to do their job,” said Pacella.
Prior to licensing, candidates receive 24 hours of comprehensive pre-service orientation covering subjects such as relationship building, behavioral approaches and creating a pro-active and positive environment for living and learning. To test mutual compatibility, the child sometimes makes visits to the candidate’s home.
“We’re very, very particular about placing a child,” said Pacella. “When making a match, we have to look at the needs of both the family and child.”
Once approved, the mentor becomes an independent contractor and receives a daily stipend of between $35 and $50, depending on the severity of the child’s disability or behavior. Once every two weeks, a MENTOR coordinator visits the home to insure that the client’s goal-oriented treatment plan is carried out.
A clinical staff person also is on call 24 hours a day to respond to emergency treatment needs of the client. If mentors want some time alone or a weekend off, the agency also provides respite care for the child.
Since the MENTOR program opened its doors in the Pittsburgh area 15 years ago, hundreds of children have been placed in mentoring homes.
“Our agency specializes in trying to keep our clients in the community, preferably in caring homes,” said Pacella. “The impact of providing a good home to children in need is immeasurable. A committed foster parent can, indeed, make a positive change in a child that can last a lifetime.
For more information on the MENTOR program, call 412-731-7422 or visit the Web site www.thementornetwork.com.