The Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services launched a new television and radio ad campaign Monday in an effort to recruit more foster parents in the county.
As of this year, 276 children are in foster care and 171 of them were placed with foster parents outside Anne Arundel County, according to the county.
“We all know that children need love and attention,” said Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens. “And nothing is better for human beings than stability.”
She encouraged county residents to consider becoming foster parents, especially in the areas of Annapolis and Glen Burnie where most foster children come from and where there are the fewest available foster homes. In the last three years, children under age 5 and teenagers have been the largest groups of children needing foster care.
Marcia Kennai, director of the county?s social services department, said the ad campaign would be targeted toward those areas where the need is especially acute.
“The goal is to place children in the neighborhoods where they came from,” she said. “So they maintain those family and school connections that are so important.”
Pasadena resident Ilene Shaheed adopted a little girl after her four children had grown up, and she and her husband are now foster parents to two teenage boys, ages 17 and 19. The 61-year-old grandmother of 22 said she simply had the space and the time to devote to caring for teenagers.
“My back ups are my grandsons, and I have my husband,” she said. “Plus I like hip-hop.” Shaheed said being a foster parent was a calling.
“You?ll know it whether you can do the soup kitchen or the community group,” she said. “But for some of us, taking your children in is in us.”
