Michigan has observed a mild decrease in children being placed in foster care in recent years, but its health workers also deduced that the need for birth parents is still persistent.
Officials from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said there are approximately 13,000 children in the state's foster system; 850 of them are in Oakland County and 530 in Macomb County, the Oakland Express reports.
The state figures show the number of children in foster care in the two counties has been reduced by more than half since 2008. The decline is directly linked to Michigan state officials' goal to eventually help foster kids reunite with their families.
Charles Ludwig, director of Court Appointed Special Advocates program of CARE House of Oakland County, noted that adoption is only a secondary option for foster kids. The primary objective of foster care is to help children return to their birth families. If those are not feasible, guardianship with another family member is another possible outcome, Ludwig said.
"Most children who come into care, the goal is reunification and most people don't understand that," Ludwig said. State figures also reveal more than 50 percent of foster kids eventually return to their families.
The goal to reunite children in foster care to their families is one thing that Marty Terbrack, 52, has always believed in.
Marty grew up in a house with other foster kids, and it was instinctual for him to open his home to other children in need as well. For over 16 years, he and his wife, Cathy, have provided foster care for more than 30 children in their hometown, Oakland.
"It's just a blessing to love in the gap," Cathy said. "It's our blessing to be able to do that."
But the Terbracks are aware that the kids under their care couldn't stay with them forever. Foster children have been living inside their homes for a month to 18 months. This period is usually taken as an opportunity for the kids' birth parents to resolve any issues which might prevent them from caring for their child.
"They're like extended cousins," Marty said of their children. "Others, you never see after they leave. That's hard, but that's how it is. It's not about you. It's about the need."
According to PBS Newshour, more than 415,000 children are in the foster care system in the United States, including the nation's most vulnerable youth.
