Reporter
Odessa American
MIDLAND/ODESSA, TEXAS - Every year hundreds of children in Permian Basin are taken out of their homes, forced out by unfortunate circumstances and placed into emergency shelters and foster homes.
But amid the often times traumatic events, many children are also being sent out of the Permian Basin with the lack of foster families available in the region. According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, as of June 2012 around 78 percent of children in Ector County removed from their homes by Child Protective Services are placed in foster homes outside of the county every year.
That’s around 194 children a year, said Jalynn Hogan, executive director for the foster care and adoption organization High Sky Children’s Ranch in Midland.
“Children in the Permian Basin are placed outside of our area for foster care, because there are not enough homes,” Hogan said. “At any one time, there might be 30 to 31 children in emergency shelters. The younger they are, the more it impacts their ability to form long-term attachment and relationships.”
To help combat the Permian Basin’s lack of foster families, the Rev. Daniel Stephens, lead pastor at Midcities Community Church, asked the church community to help recruit willing foster families in the initiative, One More Home.
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