Share Your Love
Rebekah Children ' s Services Foster / Adopt Program
Written by Jordan Rosenfeld
In 2018 , a South County mom named Rachel , and her husband , hoped to expand their family and make their young daughter a big sister . Nature , however , was not cooperating , and Rachel struggled to conceive a second child . Frustrated by failed in vitro fertilization ( IVF ) attempts , they investigated the possibility of foster-adoption as another way to bring a child into their lives . “ We probably could have continued with IVF and been successful at some point , but once we heard the statistics about the need for foster parents in Santa Clara County , we could not unlearn them .” As of February , 2021 , according to Santa Clara County Social Services Agency , there are 1,684 children in the foster care system .
Rachel and her husband could not stop thinking about these kids . “ We thought , why we are we putting in all this time , money and effort to have more biological kids when there are so many in this county who need invested caregivers ? We made a dramatic 180 shift and threw all our effort into foster care .”
Two years and some change later , they are adopting two young boys they fostered — their youngest , who was a baby in the NICU when they first took him home , and their middle son , who was three when he came to them . Their youngest went through 19 months of challenging attempted reunification with his biological family before the courts determined it was in his best interest to stay with Rachel ’ s family .
Rachel ’ s family fostered their children through Rebekah ’ s Children ’ s Services ( RCS ), a Gilroy-based agency that provides a full continuum of care , from parenting support to residential support , outpatient therapy , family therapy , psychiatric services and of course , foster and adoption services . RCS is currently engaged in a campaign to find new resource ( foster ) families through their “ Share Your Love ” campaign .
When children enter the foster care system in Santa Clara County , they typically start out at the County Social Services ’ Agency Receiving , Assessment and Intake Center ( RAIC ) in San Jose , a non-residential center where they can stay no longer than 72 hours .
“ The faster we can take kids in , the less traumatic it is ,” said Serena Misley , a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and RCS ’ s Director of Family Linkage for the foster care and adoption program .
Teens are the prevalent age in foster care , since families tend to be more inclined to take in younger children . However , most agencies work hard to keep
38
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN SPRING 2021 gmhtoday . com