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Foster Care celebrates with its families

Pippa and Ranon Two Crow attend the annual La Plata County Foster Care/Adoption Program Christmas party with their Grandmother Carolyn Norton. She became their foster parent 13 months ago.

La Plata County Foster Care/Adoption Program, a program through the La Plata County Human Services Department, celebrated its children and families with an entertainment-packed Christmas party Tuesday night at the Durango Community Recreation Center.

The Bar D Wranglers and Santa Claus himself were among the attendees.

Lezlie Mayer, director of La Plata County Human Services, thanked all families in attendance, and she read aloud a letter she received from a child’s first experience in foster care.

“The love and compassion you carry will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” she said.

The program has 19 certified foster homes in the county and 45 children have been fostered since January, she said. However, she emphasized, the program always is in need of more families.

Families wishing to host foster children extensively are screened, and they must undergo a certification process. Families are not required to meet financial eligibility standards, and they are given a monthly stipend for the child.

Carolyn Norton became a foster parent to her grandchildren, Pippa and Ranon Two Crow, 13 months ago when Social Services in Nevada removed the children from her daughter’s custody.

“It was difficult at first, but now they’ve settled,” she said. “It’s hard when you’re in your 70s and have to start all over again.”

The Foster Care program guided Norton and her husband through the journey of fostering.

Micah Schmitt, 16, was in foster care as a baby, and he was adopted by Cheryl and Matt Schmitt when he was a toddler. He regrets not knowing his father, and he understands the difficulties of not being able to grow up with your own family, but he is grateful to the family that has cared for him his whole life.

“I’m glad I got put in this family,” he said. “I think it’s cool that all these families put in time to help these children.”

vguthrie@durangoherald.com

To get involved

Those interested in becoming a foster parent can call 382-6150 and ask for the La Plata County Foster Care/Adoption Program.



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