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East Bay Couple Retires From Foster Parenting After Caring For More Than 400 Children
NBC Bay Area ^ | Friday, Jun 19, 2015 | Garvin Thomas

Posted on 06/19/2015 5:22:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Dave and Deanna Mitchell appreciate the no-children-in-residence policy at their new home, the Stoneridge Creek Retirement Community in Pleasanton.

It's not that the Mitchells don't like children, it's just the opposite in fact. They needed to live somewhere that would finally prevent them from taking them in children to live with them.

From 1970 to 2013 the Mitchells, formerly of Danville, took in a total of 431 foster children. "Unbelievable, huh?" laughs Deanna.

"It sounds like a big number," Dave adds, "but they only came one, two, or three at a time. Not all at once."

The Mitchells met in high school in the 1950's in Missouri and got married soon after. Dave and Deanna moved around a few times before settling in Georgia. It was soon after that the church they attended hosted a meeting about starting private foster care system.

After having their interest piqued by the opportunity, Dave and Deanna called a family meeting with their two young children. Initially, their son was not fully on board, so they did not move forward with the process.

But a little while later, things changed.

“Six months later he came and he said, ‘Remember when you talked about sharing my room and sharing my toys?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ He says, ‘I think I’d like that.’ So, we went to the elder at church and said we were interested.”

A few short weeks later and the Mitchells had taken in not one, but three children.

After a few more moves, including a final move to California, the Mitchells had taken a break from hosting foster children when another opportunity presented itself to Deanna when she was volunteering at a treatment center for developmentally delayed children in Concord. A young boy had been left there by his previous foster parents, with no place to go. So, knowing she had the experience and expertise, Deanna offered to take him in, and the Mitchells began opening their home to foster children once again.

“God just kept sending us children,” Deanna says. And, she adds, He didn’t stop for quite some time.

Taking up to five children at a time, the Mitchells continued to be foster parents up until just two years ago when they officially retired.

“I think we knew physically and mentally we probably needed to stop. But the heart wouldn’t let you.”

Their two biological children grew accustomed to having extra people in the house and Deanna even tells a story where her daughter’s sixth grade teacher asked her class how many people each person had in their family.

“I don’t know until I come down in the morning and count,” was her response, Deanna says telling the story with a smile. Dave and Deanna would often receive calls in the middle of the night from someone looking for a place for a child, and they always picked up.

“Once the child walked in our home, they were not a foster child. I don’t think we ever referred to them as foster children. They were our family.”


TOPICS: Local News
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1 posted on 06/19/2015 5:22:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I am VERY ambivalent about fostering.

If you love kids, adopt them, don’t warehouse them for profit.

The whole foster system is a drain — what was so bad about orphanages? They have Boys’ homes and the like that can take care of kids.

But some do a good job at it and actually care for kids.

As I said — ambivalence.


2 posted on 06/19/2015 5:41:04 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (When things are rightly ordered, man is steward of God's gifts and civIns law enables him to do so.)
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To: freedumb2003
If you love kids, adopt them, don’t warehouse them for profit.

I understand what you are saying, but I bet the adoption system makes it impossible sometimes. And sometimes if parents are in the picture.

3 posted on 06/19/2015 5:50:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: freedumb2003
If you love kids, adopt them, don’t warehouse them for profit.

Many of the children in the foster system are not adoptable. Not that there are people who do not want to adopt them but for whatever reason, including that the parents of record can not be located.

They have Boys’ homes and the like that can take care of kids.

Not any more. There are very few orphanages left and any organizations that are left are for "troubled youth". The kind of child that is too dangerous to be placed in foster care.

4 posted on 06/19/2015 5:58:17 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: freedumb2003

“If you love kids, adopt them...”

I understand how you feel ambivalent; however, the primary goal of Child Protective Services is to get the kids back to the parents. I think many of the kids are fostered till they max out because the parent won’t sign the waiver to allow them to be adopted. I’ve heard good stories about foster parents and I’ve heard horror stories as well. Unfortunately for the little ones, their true welfare (IMHO) isn’t considered entirely.. they are seen as “property”.


5 posted on 06/19/2015 6:02:39 PM PDT by momtothree
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

My point was leaving the orphanage system and instead going to the foster system was a fundamental mistake.

I know of what I speak — collective homes for youths needing direction are better than individual subsidies. In the right hands, professional counselors can redirect kids better than profit-minded, if well-meaning, everyday folk.


6 posted on 06/19/2015 6:32:04 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (When things are rightly ordered, man is steward of God's gifts and civIns law enables him to do so.)
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To: freedumb2003
My point was leaving the orphanage system and instead going to the foster system was a fundamental mistake.

Oh I agree.

7 posted on 06/20/2015 7:40:15 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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