"It means so much to them to have a home, to have some stability," says Margaret Quintana, surrounded by four of her five foster children.Posted on 05/28/2004 5:00:54 PM PDT by Coleus
Loving Hispanic woman is a state agency's ideal
| Thursday, May 13, 2004 |
| "It means so much to them to have a home, to have some stability," says Margaret Quintana, surrounded by four of her five foster children. |
Margaret Quintana's most prized possessions include the mementos of a typically proud mother: pictures of smiling children, and letters, cards, and poems from them that describe the difference that her love made in their lives.
They are not her biological children. They are the dozens of foster children, most of them Hispanic, whom Quintana has taken into her home during the last 16 years.
Quintana says that staying in a home that is culturally familiar helps foster children feel a sense of comfort and continuity.
"It definitely makes a difference," the Clifton woman said Wednesday.
The state child welfare agency takes the same view, but it notes that Quintana is a rarity in the Hispanic community.
Eighteen percent of the 65,000 foster children in New Jersey are Hispanic, but only 250 foster homes are bilingual and equipped to handle their needs, state officials say.
So the agency is starting an outreach program to recruit more Spanish-speaking foster parents by working with local Hispanic organizations to spread information about the foster program.
"We are facing a critical shortage of foster homes for Hispanic children," Human Services Commissioner James Davy said at a city of Passaic news conference Wednesday. "No child should lose their culture, their sense of identity when circumstances require they be removed from their home. We need to do a better job of recruiting foster families in the neighborhoods where children live."
Lorenzo Hernandez, executive director of the Passaic-based Hispanic Information Center, which helps place children in Hispanic homes, agreed.
"We do not want to traumatize a child a second time by placing him or her in a home that does not understand their culture or where there may a language barrier," he said.
A new advisory council - made up of members of Hispanic organizations from throughout the state - will monitor the effort to recruit Hispanic foster families and help the Human Services Department establish more effective programs for Hispanics.
The outreach effort is part of a larger plan to reform the child welfare system. Among the plan's goals are providing better drug treatment programs for biological-parents and providing incentives - such as higher payments - to foster families.
The new focus on Hispanic children also will include hiring more bilingual caseworkers, Davy said. Department spokesman Joe Delmar said the agency didn't know how many of its caseworkers are bilingual.
The agency is recruiting in predominantly Hispanic areas, such as Passaic and Hudson counties. But the Division of Youth and Family Services also plans to spend $150,000 to establish 15 additional foster homes for Hispanic children in Cumberland County, where 20 percent of the children in foster care are Hispanic.
Davy said recruiting foster families is a difficult undertaking.
"Fostering, while it has great rewards, in that you often get a lot from these children, is a daunting experience when you think about it," Davy said.
"But once you step into it, you wonder why you haven't done it before."
The Hispanic Information Center said that efforts to serve Hispanic children must include preventive measures, such as teaching families how to cope with stress and to communicate.
Many Hispanic families are overwhelmed by immigration problems, multiple jobs that leave little time to supervise children, and family separation, with one parent living here and the other staying behind in the native land.
"Parents get frustrated," said Sonia Lopez, deputy director at the center. "And sometimes kids get mistreated. There's a need to show them how to cope, how to communicate, and talk things over. We would like to strengthen families, help create unity, so that there's less frustration and children are less likely to be abused."
Quintana, who owns a beauty salon in Passaic and has two adult children of her own, plans to continue offering shelter, particularly to adolescents.
"I was a difficult teenager," she said. "I got pregnant at 15. But I had a lot of love. My parents didn't give up on me, and it made a difference. Many of these kids don't have that support.
"It means so much to them to have a home, to have some stability. They still come back to visit after they leave here, even after they get married and have their own homes. That means so much to me."
E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com
Contact Commissioner Davy Here
The Hispanic Information Center is part of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson, they can be e-mailed here.
 |
'Rebuilding Broken Dreams' |
| May 27, 2003 -- Bishop Rodimer blesses Straight & Narrow's new 50-unit apartment complex before N.J. Catholic Pro-abortion Gov. Jim McGreevey cuts the symbolic opening ribbon. Executive Director Lorna Tangara, Catholic Pro-abortion Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr., mystified, and Mayor Torres look on. |
If she wants culture, she should go back to her own country.
>>"We do not want to traumatize a child a second time by placing him or her in a home that does not understand their culture or where there may a language barrier,"
I remember hearing similar nonesense a few years ago. There were self appoint spokepeople from the black community claiming the white 'family' adopting black children would 'traumatize' them since the white community didn't know the culture.
IOW, this is propaganda to hide the fact that there are numbers (children) showing a negative outlook to the culture.
And I thought the liberals believed there was STRENGTH in Diversity. Oh, that's right, they only use that term when they want to get elected or for an issue to their benefit.
Try publicly stating that you want to rear your children in "white" culture and you'd be arrested by the hate police.
Only "whites" are not allowed to have a "culture" that they can impart to their children.
Is Limey okay?
Thoughts on the issue jj?
We live in a very strange time, when discrimination, is government subsidized, and some types of people are not good enough even though they are the backbone of society.
Housing discrimination is another well-kept state secret. Many landlords would rather rent to those on assistance, because they can be sure of the government check. Sometimes they prejudge you before you get out of the car - if you're white, don't bother.
I have nothing good to say here.
ProLife Ping!
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So would the English!
There is a big double standard in this country.
No, they are never traumatized when they collect the seciton 8 and other subsidies which the white man contributes every week when he gets paid.
WE also have our share of Spanish people from Europe in Mexico..and they are here as well..my neighbor has two kids fathered by one .on welfare of course. I dont care where you come from dont force this Mexican, spanish or what ever culture on our kids, which is being done... at the expense of kids struggling to learn in America
In short, calling a Mexican or Bolivian "Spanish" just because they speak Spanish makes about as much sense as calling a black Jamaican or Chinese American "English."
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