I bet everyone is just aghast at my prescience of knowing that Bethany Christian was going to be running concurrent placement Medicaid billing models (code for double billing) in Foster Care for Adoption.
Have no fear!
I cannot predict the future, because if I could, that would make me a Predictive Modeling Crapper.
Wanna know how I know?
They told me so, in their own words and videos!
And I have Little Birdies.
Oh, heck, just click the link and watch the video, for shall forcibly move you spiritually (a pun of force migration).
A 'heart in the right spot' required as refugee kids head to Lansing foster care instead of detention centers
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| "It's ok. I hear the drugs will silence our screams." |
Children who have crossed the border without a parent need safe, loving homes for a little while, and two nonprofits are looking for foster homes in the Lansing area that fit the bill.
Samaritas, a Detroit-based social services agency, formerly called Lutheran Social Services, just announced it has a contract to place up to 26 children in transitional foster care in Lansing and Ann Arbor.
Bethany Christian Services and Samaritas are seeking new foster homes to help children.
It joins Bethany Christian Services, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit dealing with foster care and refugee services, which has already ramped up a program with five foster families.
So far, five refugee kids have been in care and three more are on their way, said Bethany spokeswoman Allison Preston-Smith. Four of those children have been reunited with relatives in the U.S. after spending time in Lansing area homes.
Bethany is looking for enough foster homes to place a total of 18 children in the Lansing area.
“The (foster care) program lets them be kids again and go to school, play with friends, and be in a regular routine again,” Preston-Smith said in an email.
Both programs are aimed at offering temporary homes to refugee children, technically called unaccompanied children, until they can be reunited with family members in the U.S.
It’s no longer the official U.S. policy to separate children from parents at the border. President Trump ended the practice last year. But it’s unclear how successful the U.S. has been in keeping families together.
The humanitarian crises at the U.S.-Mexico border has tugged at a lot of heartstrings, mine included. I wondered if foster parents would be seen as complicit in misguided border policy that’s contributed to the humanitarian crisis.
I was swayed by talking to parents and officials that the programs put kids, likely scared and confused, into loving homes.
In other words, the programs are an apolitical part of a politically charged problem. Supporters of President Trump argue he’s doing the right thing to end a “catch-and-release” policy at the border. Critics say the U.S. is treating refugees inhumanely.
Six migrant kids died
The images of people living in intolerable conditions in detention centers and weeping children taken from their parents are beyond disturbing.
Six migrant children from Central America have died in federal custody since September and doctors from Harvard and Johns Hopkins are calling for investigations after three died from the flu
“Everybody has a different perspective on what’s happening at the border,” said Kevin Van Den Bosch, chief operations officer — child and family at Samaritas. “…What we’re trying to do is create a sanctuary, a safe place.”
One Lansing critic of U.S. border policy, Oscar Castaneda, chair of the Civil Rights for Immigrants Task Force of the Action of Greater Lansing, a faith-based coalition, said he has mixed feelings about foster care. Reasonable immigration policies would be better but foster care homes beat the alternative of overcrowded detention centers.
“They still are better than the option of having the kids incarcerated,” he said.
'They've got to have fun'
John and Judy are Lansing-area foster parents. They asked that their last names not be used, saying it was part of the requirements from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. They cared for siblings, ages 7 and 8, for a month this summer.
The couple, who have grandchildren, are new foster parents working with Bethany. They said they tried to keep the girls busy with healthy and fun activities until they could be reunited with a family member already living in the U.S.
“They’re kids. They’ve got to eat. They’ve got to sleep. They’ve got to have fun,” John said. “It was a wonderful experience.”
The girls loved to ride bikes. The couple said the children attended school each weekday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., giving them a respite. Children attend a Bethany program for education rather than public schools.
John and Judy don’t speak Spanish but used Google translator to communicate.
“It’s not a requirement for you to be bilingual. People find a way, and kids find a way to communicate,” said Sandra Severo-Lopez, transitional foster care site supervisor for Bethany in East Lansing.
You don’t have to have an Ozzie-and-Harriet traditional home to be a foster family either. Foster parents can be single, renters and full-time workers. They must be over 18 and clear a check on the Michigan Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry.
You must also go through the rest of the licensing process with the state of Michigan, which can take months.
“I always say the most important (requirement) is to have your heart in the right spot,” Severo-Lopez said.
Bethany reimburses foster families $50 a day to offset the cost of caring for children. Samaritas’ rate is $40 a day.
For more information about Samaritas, contact RFCino@samaritas.org or call 517 321-7663. For more information on Bethany, go to www.bethany.org or call 517 336-0191.
Bethany has several upcoming orientation sessions for those who might consider becoming a foster parent.
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