MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) - People turn to family during good and bad times. Nearly 4,000 children don't have a permanent family, and are in foster care.
Walk into any home at the Louisiana Baptist Children's Home, and it appears an average family is spending time together. All of the children are foster children. Foster mom, Yvette Dun, says "it's very, very busy. We have 7 girls right now ages 8 to 17."
Dun has been a foster mother for 5 years. She says just being able to sit around the table, and talk about their days is one of the things she loves best. She says, "I love being a mom and I've always love being a mom. Our children are grown now, but this has enabled us to give to other kids."
Like the girls who live with Dun, there are thousands of children who are in foster care. There is a great need for foster and adoptive parents. Dunn says, "there is a very big need."
A new state initiative "Faith in Families" will focus on the number of children and how long they are in foster care. DCFS Secretary, Suzy Sonnier, says "we can get them a family that can love them and cherish them."
The new state initiative will work in part by teaming up with church families, then asking those families to consider becoming adoptive parents. Sonnier says, "reducing safely the number of kids in foster care, reducing the time they spend in care, and insuring all children exit foster care with a permanent family connection."
Dunn would encourage anyone to become a foster parent. She says, "anyone can do it. You just have to give a lot of yourself, and love the unlovable as some people would say. Eventually they become just like your own children."
Dunn says being a foster mom is a blessing. To find out how to become a foster or adoptive parent, visit http://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov or call 1-888-LAHELP-U.
Tuesday, June 18 2013 2:01 PM EDT2013-06-18 18:01:27 GMT
MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) - Monroe Police and Ouachita Parish Deputies continue to investigate multiple shootings, a murder and a weekend stabbing in the parish.
MONROE, La. (KNOE 8 News) - Monroe Police and Ouachita Parish Deputies continue to investigate multiple shootings, a murder and a weekend stabbing in the parish.
Wednesday, April 3 2013 3:18 PM EDT2013-04-03 19:18:47 GMT
UPDATE: KNOE 8 News has learned an account to assist the family of Wednesday morning's double fatal fire has been established Ouachita Independent Bank.
UPDATE: KNOE 8 News has learned an account to assist the family of Wednesday morning's double fatal fire has been established Ouachita Independent Bank.
State and local police spent hours at the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Tuesday night as another group of officers searched an industrial park about a mile away where a body was discovered...
State and local police spent hours at the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez on Tuesday night as another group of officers searched an industrial park about a mile away where a body was discovered the day...
The Jefferson Economic development Commission says it has revamped its policies after questions emerged in 2012 about its executive director's residency, expense filings and use of email for political purposes.
The Jefferson Economic development Commission says it has revamped its policies after questions emerged in 2012 about its executive director's residency, expense filings and use of email for political purposes.
