Community Connections: C.A.L.L. and Arkansas’ foster care system

Editor’s note: The following is an introduction to a series of stories The City Wire will post in 2011 about foster care issues and organizations in the Fort Smith region. At least one story a month will attempt to provide some insight into a state and regional foster care system with realities that range from deeply troubling to wonderfully successful.

story by Aric Mitchell
[email protected]

Children of Arkansas Loved for a Lifetime (C.A.L.L.) is a Christian-based foster care group new to the River Valley. Since February, it has recruited and trained close to 30% of the available foster care homes in Sebastian County. Program coordinator Megan Tran became involved with C.A.L.L. in February 2010, three years after its start in Little Rock.

“I’d wanted to get involved with the foster care system for a while, but my husband and I weren’t financially prepared for it,” Tran said.

She attended an informational meeting at Central Christian Church on Waldron Avenue in December 2009 and started working with the program a few months later.

Statewide, C.A.L.L. is represented in 20 counties. With just 43 non-provisional foster homes available in Sebastian County and 587 children in need, C.A.L.L. recruited and trained 13 of those homes. An additional 10 homes fall under “provisional” status, meaning they are open only to family. These are not part of the program.

At any given time, Arkansas has more than 3,500 children in foster care with only 950 families to care for them, according to Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) figures.

“Families that come to foster care through C.A.L.L. benefit from the support unit their church provides,” Tran noted.

The group specializes in educating not just the foster parent, but the entire church on how they can be a source of support to children and parents, Tran said. Support could include financial assistance, medical/CPR training, clothes provision, or transporting children to medical appointments when the foster parents cannot afford to miss work.

To become involved, candidates must attend an informational meeting, and submit to criminal background checks and mandatory fingerprinting for all persons in the home, ages 18 or older. Next, DCFS will conduct a preliminary walkthrough.

Foster parents must undergo CPR/first aid training and attend one foster/adoptive parent support group meeting. Following these steps, the foster parent will complete a home study by a licensed master (or clinical) social worker, after which the DCFS will perform a final walkthrough of the home and grant approval.

According to foster parent Jeff McCollough, the group’s assistance has been invaluable. Jeff and wife Eva have six biological children in addition to the two they assisted through C.A.L.L.

“One major way C.A.L.L. has helped us, particularly Megan (Tran), is in understanding what the agency requires, and why they need the things they do,” said McCollough.

He admitted the group helped “break down our preset notions” about foster care and agencies like DCFS.

“When you stop looking at it (DCFS) as this big organization and start seeing it as a group of individuals who legitimately love and care for children and want what’s best for them, it’s easier to feel like partners,” McCollough said.

For more information on how to get involved with C.A.L.L., Tran invites families or church leaders to contact her at (479) 719-9298.