BROWN CO. (NBC 26) — Officials with Brown County Health and Human Services say right now there is a great need for foster parents in our community.
“We have a high need right now for our foster families, for foster children. Our main goal in our county is to always keep our children that are coming into care in our community,” said Heather LaFave, Foster Care Recruiter and Support Coordinator.
LaFave says it’s important for children to receive the support and resources from right here in Brown County.
“We want to be able to support them in our community where their connections are, where their school of origin is, any positive resources that they have we want to maintain that,” LaFave said.
She said the latest numbers of foster children in Brown County are the following; last updated on Tuesday, March 9.
“We have 302 foster children right now in Brown County, 219 of those are in our licensed foster homes that we license and support,” LaFave said.
And the numbers are going up. She goes on to say that these numbers have increased by 11 just over the past week.
“There’s been a big increase over the past two weeks so I’m guessing that's correlated with the Green Bay Schools opening up and teachers having eyes on the kids again," said Cheri Salmon, the founder and president of Foster the Village.
We reached out to officials with Green Bay Area Public Schools who say district staff are all mandatory reporters, meaning they are required by law to report suspected child abuse and neglect.
“There is really a great need in Brown County and all counties. A lot of children that have been home during the pandemic, home stuck with an abuser. They haven't had teachers or doctors or any eyes on them to report them," Salmon said.
And while the number of children entering care right now is rising, officials say there aren't sufficient homes to meet the needs.
“That’s why we need foster homes in our community so that they can kind of fill that gap. We can place the children for the time being and they can support the children in a safe environment where they can start to heal,” LaFave said.
If you want to help provide a child in our community with a safe and loving environment, you can click here for more resources on how to do so.
