MARION – With May recognized as National Foster Care Month, Marion County Commissioners signed a proclamation Thursday morning in a bid to raise awareness for the need for more foster parents in the county.
Though the proclamation is a symbolic gesture, members of Marion County Children Services that attended the event say the need for licensed foster families in the area continues to grow each year.
Bryant Brown, with children services, said there are currently 85 children in the agency’s care and there are only 31 foster families licensed in the county.
He said if a local family is not available to take-in a child under his agency’s care, private companies are tasked with placing that child with other foster families.
Officials with Marion County Children Services said placing those children is not a cheap process. Brown said those placement costs last year were around $2.2 million.
“It takes 100 percent heart to be a foster parent,” he said as 26 people have expressed interest in starting the process to becoming foster parents.
Also at Thursday morning’s proclamation was Jennifer McMurray, who recently became a foster parent for the first time. Along with her husband Corey, they welcomed a 18-month-old girl into their home on March 26.
“It is something we always wanted to do,” Jennifer said. “Our faith played a large role. We are told to take care of the orphan and the widow.”
“It has always been our goal to adopt (through the foster care system),” she added. “But, (the focus of the foster care system) is to have (those children) reunited with their birth parents.”
For those interested in becoming foster parents, information about how to start the process can be found at the state website, fosterandadopt.jfs.ohio.gov.