SEQUIM — With many families suffering from job loss and struggling to find decent housing, more children are coming into the foster care system – while a local bank and the North Olympic Foster Parents Association are combining their resources to care for the kids.
First Federal made a $2,000 donation this week to the association, which grant coordinator Lois Tyler said has about 200 members in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
This is the fourth time the bank has supported the foster parents’ group, said Christy Rookard, First Federal’s Sequim Avenue branch manager.
The funds will help buy clothes, diapers and school supplies for foster children who range from babies to teenagers, Tyler said.
In Jefferson County, the Lighthouse Lions Club of Port Townsend also presented foster families with gifts: two dozen carefully assembled overnight bags with pajamas, socks, blankets, hygiene kits and stuffed toys.
Elaine Peet, the state Department of Social and Health Services foster care licenser in Jefferson, accepted the donations Thursday, saying they’re needed by children who often come into foster care with no belongings.
More foster parents are needed if local children are to stay in their own communities, added Martha Hastings, foster care licenser at the Department of Social and Health Services in Port Angeles.
“Things are hopping right now . . . we are currently more full than usual,” she said, referring to the 75 households and some 120 foster children living in Neah Bay, Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim.
In Clallam County, two trainings are coming up this spring, added Colleen Robinson, foster parent recruitment and retention specialist.
The first is April 9, 10, 16 and 17 at the Port Angeles Social and Health Services office, 201 W. First St.; next comes a training on June 5, 6, 12 and 13 at the Sequim Community School, 220 W. Alder St.
To register, phone Bill Todd at 360-565-2296.
In Jefferson County, which has just 17 foster homes, a training will be held on nine evenings in early September.
For information, phone 360-379-4342.
Robinson also encourages those in Clallam or Jefferson counties with questions about foster parenting to phone her at 360-460-5560.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
