European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Child abuse child advocacy Dee Smith with her husband Sec.  Smith. Is photo by Dan Wolla showing kids that there Are better ways to  Foster hones a positive alternative by Dan Wollam Stuttgart Bureau a Foster Home provides a positive alternative to leaving abused children wit their  finding Foster Homes in t always easy. In Stuttgart which has an american Community of about 32,000 people about 30 children a year Are placed in Foster Homes for an average of three months each said Phillip Crawford director of the area s protective services program. Of those 30, about one third Are infants up for adoption. A few come from single parents who can t afford children. The majority Are neglected or abused. Crawford said he s always looking for More Foster parents. One problem is that a majority of spouses in Stuttgart work he said. Although working couples Are not ineligible to be Foster parents they usually find its a photo by Dan Wollam Phillip Crawford need for More Foster parents. Impractical since they have to find Day care for the children. Another substantial number of spouses take care of other people s children during the Day and Are not interested. Of the remaining Many Aren t interested or can t qualify Crawford said.  potential Foster parents in Stuttgart must Clear a series of checks before they re permitted to care for another person s child. Although there Are Foster care programs throughout Usa eur qualifications to become a Foster Parent Are imposed by individual communities Crawford said. In Stuttgart childless couples and single people can become Foster parents but Crawford prefers Foster parents who have had the experience of raising their own children. Crawford is particularly wary of people who Are curious to discover what it s like to have children. I Don t want these kids being an Experiment for somebody he said. The checks begin with interviews. Applicants must provide social histories and three references including the service member s commander. Medical military and housing records Are screened. Crawford and Dee Smith the Volunteer Home finding coordinator for protective services conduct Home interviews. The Community health nurse inspects the Home for safety. Social workers conduct a mental status examination. Potential Foster parents must Complete a 24-hour course in family child care. Then if they agree to accept unannounced visits from Crawford they can become Foster parents. Smith and her husband whose four children have grown and left the Roost Are Foster parents. In the past three years More than 20 Foster children have passed through their door. We be seen so Many children neglected and so Many abused Smith said. We just want to get them to see that there Are other ways to live. There Are choices that they can  Smith and her husband Sec. . Smith once cared for a 15-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her Stepfather since she was 8. She just got fed up at school one Day and decided she was t going Home again Smith said. My husband was very leery. He had to go slowly with affection and with kind words until she began to Trust  slowly the girl Learned to show the sergeant affection. She came up and hugged my husband one Day and he was so tickled Smith said. She d Learned there was affection without sexual abuse that not everybody was like her  the girl is 18 now. After her three months with the Smiths she moved in with an aunt for two years. She now lives with her Mother and writes the Smiths. The Stepfather is no longer with the family. The girl was the Only Foster child the Smiths seriously considered adopting. But i realized i was being selfish Smith said. I was doing it for me and not for anybody  yet it was t easy letting go. It rarely is she said. Our children Are grown and we Learned to let go of them she said. A lot of people have problems with giving up Foster children. But it s something you learn to do and it gets easier every time you do it. We always still miss them. But we just get another  Foster parents receive Between $7 and $10 a Day. Protective services decides based on the natural parents financial situation whether natural parents will pay the entire Cost or whether the Agency will pick up part of the Tab. But it in t Money that motivates the Smiths and others to take children into their Home. We re sure not going to get Rich doing this she said. It s not for that. It s not about that. It s about us showing kids that there Are better ways to  a  his hmm a huh a wednesday March 5, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13