ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / November 21, 1999

LAPLACE – The holiday season is right around the corner, and most people are looking forward to being with their families around the Thanksgiving table and the Christmas tree.

However, in our area there are 19 children who won’t know the joy of being with family members during the holidays because these kids are in need of adoption or of being placed in foster care homes.

Most of these children are under the care of the Child Protective Services and come from abusive and traumatic environments and have had to be removed from families for their own protection.

November is National Adoption Month, and the Louisiana Department of Social Services Office of Community Services is seeking out people who will either become foster care parents or adoptive parents.

To illustrate the state’s need to help these children, on Nov. 10, Gov. MikeFoster held an adoption reception at the Governor’s Mansion to honor the 248 families who have adopted children who were in foster care last year.

Cidny Ordoyne, a social worker with the Office of Community Services, is in charge of adoption and foster care for our area which includes, Thibodaux, the River Parishes, Terrebone, LaFourche and Assumption parishes. Ordoyne is always seeking out foster care and adoptive parents.”We have to find foster parents for over 430 children statewide,” said Ordoyne. “But we only have 135 certified foster parents. There is a greatneed for foster parents.”In her area, there are about 19 children needing adoptive placement or foster care.

“Right now, we have a majority of boys between 10 and 12 years old that need homes,” Ordoyne said.

Age is a big factor with these children. Because the Office of CommunityServices is a state agency, it does not have the children everybody wants like a private adoption agency.

“Older children are very hard to place,” said Ordoyne. “We have a lot ofteen-agers and siblings, and unfortunately, we sometimes have to break up the siblings.”Also, unfortunate is that a lot of children never get into a foster home, or get adopted, and they reach the age of 18 without knowing the security of a family. Ordoyne said that the OCS helps these kids with education andjob placement after they turn 18 and then they are on their own.

Even if a person doesn’t want the permanence of adoption, a child can really flourish in foster care. All applicants for foster care have toundergo training, then they are matched up with children according to the needs of the kids. Foster parents receive a monthly boarding payment foreach foster child in their home. All foster children are covered byMedicaid.

Ordoyne explained, “A lot of time, energy and patience is needed to be a foster parent.”Whether one wants to adopt or be a foster parent, everyone has to meet the following requirements: You must be 21 years of age.

You can be single, married or divorced.

You must complete a 10-session training course and participate in an individual home study.

You must pass a criminal records check and provide references.

You must have adequate physical space in your home for a child.

You must provide a safe nurturing environment for the child.

Also, federal regulations make it unlawful for any state to deny foster care or adoption placement on the basis of race, color or national origin.

The state is also required to diligently recruit foster and adoptive parents who are of the same ethnic and racial backgrounds as the children needing foster and adoptive homes.

People who feel they are qualified and would like to be a foster or adoptive parent are asked to call the Thibodaux regional office of the Office of Community Services at 1-800-748-7755 for more information.

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