They say you rarely hear about the good that foster parents do, about how they inspire and often change the trajectory of thousands of children's lives.
Growing up, John Silvey saw his parents take in and nurture hundreds of other people’s children, and now he’s doing it himself.
Denise Kettles Wells adopted her daughter Jade after she was placed in her home 10 years ago.
And Heather Swanson says she and her sister Kayla Yearwood got lucky and were adopted by foster parents who loved them as their own. The 22-year-old is now returning the favor.
But Silvey, Wells and Swanson say their stories are too often overshadowed by tales of abuse and neglect that occur in Georgia’s foster care system.
“It’s not a perfect system. There are no perfect people, but there are more great stories out there than there are bad ones,” said Silvey, director of fundraising for the Cobb County Foster Adoptive Parents Association.
According to Lisa Marie Shekell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, nearly 7,000 children are in foster care in Georgia, where parents generally are paid, depending on the age of the child, up to about $18 per day. The rate is higher for children needing medical care or a higher level of supervision and or treatment.
Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent should call 1-877-210-KIDS (5437).
Silvey, 39, and his wife Beth decided to become foster parents two years ago. They wanted a school-aged boy who was available for adoption.
Soon after completing the impact class, however, Silvey said they got the call to care for three siblings and then several more children. On Dec. 18, 2009, the Division of Family & Children Services called again. They had twin girls, Hannah and Haley, who needed a home.
“From the moment we picked them up, we knew,” Silvey said. “They were our Christmas present and they’ve been that to us every day. They are our girls.”
The Marietta couple is set to complete the adoption process for the twins on March 21.
Silvey said foster care seemed natural for him. He grew up with a slew of foster children who’d been placed in his parents care. Some were special needs children. Some had been physically or sexually abused. Some simply had no one to care for them.
“When you’re a kid growing up in a family like that, you learn to have compassion and to be a friend,” said Silvey. “That’s what I was and it was a great experience.”
Denise Kettles Wells decided to enroll in the foster-adopt program after she divorced in 1996.
“I didn’t have children of my own but always wanted to,” said Wells, 47, of Powder Springs. “I thought maybe I could help someone who hadn’t had that great a start in life.”
So she did.
Since completing the course in 2000, Wells has cared for more than a dozen children, including Jade, the daughter she adopted at age 10.
Now 20, Jade is a sophomore at Georgia State University.
Heather Swanson was only 2 when she and her sister, Kayla, were placed in foster care.
In the beginning, she resented the social workers who took them away from their mother but soon grew to love her foster parents, Barry and Marsha Yearwood.
“I was very, very lucky,” said Swanson, 22, of Austell. “I only had one foster placement.”
That placement led to the siblings’ adoption.
To this day, Swanson said the Yearwoods treated her and Kayla like their own.
“There was no difference in the treatment between their natural child and us,” she said. “They loved us all the same.”
But Swanson, who married soon after graduating from high school, said she didn’t fully appreciate the love she had until her biological mother resurfaced in her life.
“She had a dead end job. She moved every four months or so,” Swanson said.
And the little brother that remained with her was a high school dropout.
“She never instilled anything in him,” said Swanson. “I remember sitting there thinking that could be me.” .
Today, thanks to the Yearwoods, both she and her sister, Kayla, are attending college.
In addition, Swanson and her husband, Dustin, have become foster parents.
“It’s amazing what [the Yearwoods] were willing to do for me,” said Swanson. “I felt like it was important to pay that forward.”
