Superior Meeting Addresses Need For Foster Homes

Douglas County Seeing Higher Number of Foster Children Than in Past

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Right now in Douglas County there are about 15 licensed foster homes, but officials say they need at least 10 more.

The county has about 50 kids in foster care and more than half of those children are in homes outside of Douglas County, some as far as Eau Claire and La Crosse.

Douglas County Health and Human Services workers emphasize the importance of keeping kids near home and in their own school district, saying it makes it much easier for family interactions, which are required on a weekly basis.

Another goal of Thursday’s meeting was to eliminate misconceptions about foster parents.

“I think the biggest thing is that people think they have to be a husband and wife couple and that they have to have a really large home, and that’s not the case,” explained Doreen Wehmas, an Assessment Supervisor with Douglas County Health & Human Services. “It can be a single person, it can be any kind of relationship, it can be unmarried, married couples.”

Current foster parents were at Thursday’s meeting to answer questions and share their experiences, which one couple says has been rewarding in a completely different way than having children of their own.

“In how tough everything is, like having kiddos come in and all the transition and everything, you truly learn what sacrificial love is in a way that, even with my own kids, I maybe hadn’t experienced before,” described foster parents Amber and Josh Clasen.

The couple has fostered 10 children in the past year, some who stayed for one day, others for more than a year.

They also had to turn down at least 10 more children because of space limitations.

Those interested in becoming foster parents can reach out to Douglas County Child Protective Services.