'Poster boy' credits social worker for happy ending

How big of a village does it take to raise a child? For Richard, who was raised in foster care, it was a group home with several boys and two houseparents. Prior to that, it was a series of foster homes, where Richard admits he wasn't always easy to handle. But he says he learned something positive from each of them. When he was older, and his apartment was flooded, his houseparents let him come back for a week until he could find other housing. He was family. Richard, 39, is now the poster boy for a statewide campaign called "Foster Kids Are Our Kids." Its goal is to show the public that foster children are real people, with real potential and real success. Richard (the campaign does not use his last name) ended up getting a master's degree in social work from the University of Chicago and continues to give back through his administrative work licensing foster homes for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Who does he credit for the happy ending? "I had a great social worker who helped guide me to grow from a bitter and angry child to a happy and grateful husband, father, son, brother and godfather." Richard was one of six children. Three were removed from the natural parents' home, where they experienced abuse and neglect. He went to a series of foster homes and "some of the problem was me," he admits. "It can be difficult when you're placed in an environment that you're not used to." But he eventually settled into a group home. "My foster parents were great, and made every effort for me to feel comfortable and secure in their homes," he said. Michelle Arnold, project manager, said the campaign to tell the public the real story of kids like Richard comes from Voices for Illinois Children, an advocacy group dedicated to improving conditions for children. Because removal from their homes is a major trauma in itself, Arnold said officials are trying to place children closer to their environment. "For example," Arnold said, "to keep them in their home school, we try to place them with relatives in a program we call 'Kinship Care.'" Also, some foster parents adopt the children, and an effort to ease the delay in guardianship proceedings has resulted in an average 200 fewer days in foster care. Subsidized adoption also is available to families willing to take children with special needs. Thanks to these efforts, the number of Illinois children in foster care has been reduced from 50,000 to 16,000. Richard graduated from St. Gregory's High School in 1987. Because he had a caseworker who nagged him, Richard continued his education and graduated from Wilbur Wright College in Chicago with an associate's degree. Through scholarships and grants, he transferred to Northern Illinois University, where he worked as a resident assistant in Stevenson North residence hall. In 1993, he received a bachelor's degree in sociology with an emphasis in criminology. He first worked as an assistant manager for a Walgreens in a poor community, but said, "I felt I needed to do something that was paying back for the opportunities I had received." So Richard was hired as an intern in child protection by the Department of Children and Family Services. "I license and monitor foster homes in DeKalb County," he explained. He has worked for the agency for 14 years and shares his story with the foster children with whom he works. "I was blessed to get a Celeste Pena Leadership Scholarship for employees who work for DCFS and have potential to be leaders," Richard said. He completed a master's degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago in 2004. Richard has been married for 13 years and has three children. More than 60 agencies have partnered in the "Foster Kids Are Our Kids" campaign. Said campaign co-chair Ruth Jajko, "Too many people are still being dissuaded from becoming foster parents or getting involved in other ways (such as mentoring) because of the rare tragedies publicized in the media." For more information on how you can help, visit www.FosterKidsAreOurKids.org or call 1-888-4 R Kids 2; en Espanol 1-888-ninos 08.

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