Helping Children And Families Live Successfully.
Carrie Schmitz, B.S
Senior Trainer/Recruiter Therapeutic Foster Care
1420 Neal Street Suite 202
Cookeville, TN 38501
(931) 525-6905
INFORMATION MEETING:
Please contact me if you would like attend an information session or set up an individual information meeting. We can work around different schedules and would love for you to join the Youth Villages family.Foster parents receive free training, monthly reimbursements to help offset the costs of adding a child to their household andongoing support by trained counselors.
To become a certified foster parent, you must attend training classes.
PATH (Parents As Tender Healers) Training
Our next PATH Class will begin on Tuesday July 14, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Youth Villages Cookeville Office. Please call or email me with any questions you may have about the up coming classes. If you would like more information or would like to join the class please contact the recruiter above.
BE A HERO. BE A FOSTER PARENT.
Faith, Family and Foster Care
For Marcia Benson, being a foster parent is beyond rewarding- it is a ministry.
Ms. Benson has been fostering for three years and has had three teenage foster children in her care in addition to taking in respites. She states that making the choice to bring needy children into her home was never a difficult one when she considered "all the kids that are out there and have really had their lives stolen and have not had a normal childhood. Children deserve to know that someone loves and cares for them."
With the help and support of Youth Villages counselors, Ms. Benson works to correct past hurts and help children to heal and to grow from their experiences. She accomplishes this through listening to the children in her care and providing her time and encouragement. Ms. Benson always reminds the children that although their birth parents have made mistakes, their birth parents still love them in some way. She also supports the children by helping them to find faith.
According to Ms. Benson, the most rewarding part of being a foster parent is "knowing that you are giving a child a chance- giving them a safe home where they will not be hurt and the opportunity to heal and have a productive future."
Ms. Benson has only fostered teenagers, which she enjoys because they are independent and have their own interests. Even after her foster children left her home, she continues to affirm the children through phone calls, letters, and an open invitation to visit her.
Ms. Benson is proud to be a Youth Villages' resource parent, and strongly encourages other to do the same; however, she does caution not to make the choice lightly. "It is a commitment. You can't go in half-way and it's not a part time job. You have to go in with a full commitment."
