No child is supposed to sleep or spend more than a few hours at a local children’s protective services, but that’s what’s happening.
Quantinette Richardson, the director of social services for Bair Foundation, said this area is in a crisis for more foster families.
“The crisis is so big here in Lubbock, and in the state of Texas that there are literally children sleeping in CPS offices because there is no home to take these children in,” she said.
Richardson said the Bair Foundation will take in the kids that no one else will, like those with special needs or behavioral problems. However, finding them safe local places for them to call home is becoming harder every year.
“These children are being removed from Lubbock and being placed outside their communities like Dallas, San Antonio, Houston,” Richardson said. “If that happens it prevents reunification efforts with the families.”
Families like Dijon and Shane Russell say they couldn’t stand back and let children go homeless. They have already fostered two children they now consider their own.
“We just jumped off a cliff with this and just trusted ourselves that we could do this, and that we had to do this,” Dijon said. “It turned out to be the biggest blessing, and I cannot imagine my life without them now.”
The Russells said they would do it all over again if they could, but with six kids at home they’re maxed out, and pleading with others to set up.
“It is absolutely possible to do this,” Dijon said. “We have more capacity as adults than they do, and if we don’t help them, who will?”
