More than 5,000 foster children reside in the Houston and Beaumont areas hit heavily by flooding from Harvey. The foster care community here in Lubbock said they are “ready” in case any kids need to be relocated to West Texas.
Christian Garcia, Director of Foster Care and Adoption at Buckner in Lubbock said as soon as they heard about the devastation, they started making calls.
“Coming together and trying to figure out, ‘how do we help?’” Garcia said. “We help by centralizing and getting families, sending out emails and making calls to our current families just to ask, ‘Are you willing to house another child if they do come to this area?'”
He said a disaster like this can be particularly hard on foster kids, already displaced once in their lives.
“They come in with a lot of trauma,” Garcia said. “The trauma that they lived in their home plus the trauma of moving into a new home with unfamiliar faces. They get to re-live a lot of that trauma. It is very similar to their removal process….it’s ‘get up and go.’”
CPS said they aren’t aware of any kids headed to the area, but 10 families in the Lubbock area alone said they were willing to open their doors again if need be.
Most of the children and families have headed to the Central Texas area.
“Our Beaumont office was hit pretty hard,” Garcia said. “ They received a lot of rain and a lot of water. We evacuated our foster homes and our campus there to our camp in Burnet, Texas.”
Garcia said the Lubbock community will be ready if any children come our way.
“We are all in this thing together, and we mobilize and move,” Garcia said. “That is the best thing we can do for the greater purpose of helping out our kids.”
CLICK HERE for more information on how to get involved with Buckner.
CLICK HERE for how to donate to the Department of Family and Protective Service clients affected by Harvey.
CLICK HERE if you are a member of a local church and want to register for Thursday’s “Engage: Every Church, Every Child” gathering.
