San Luis Obispo County seeks more resource parents as more than 200 children remain in care

An agency official for San Luis Obispo County urged residents to consider becoming "resource parents," saying the county needs more homes for children in foster care. "A lot of people are probably more familiar with the term foster parent. Resource parent is the same thing," the official said, explaining the county expects resource parents to treat foster youth "like any other kid living at home with their parents."

The official said the county provides ongoing contact with social workers and supports for families and highlighted one experienced caregiver named Christine: "She does a fantastic job parenting kids, especially kids who have maybe some higher needs," the official said.

A local resident who is training as a resource parent described why people step forward and how demanding the role can be. "I mean, I've been around kids my whole life. I love kids," the resident said, recounting that a placement arrived at midnight on Christmas Day. The resident described emergency foster care as a 24/7 responsibility and said they began taking training classes after talking with an experienced resource parent.

The resident also described Options for Recovery (OFR), a placement path for medically fragile or drug-exposed children, and said resource parents "work closely with the parents and the kids and make sure that they are recovering in order to go home to a healthy environment." Both speakers emphasized the county's goal of reunifying children with parents when it is safe to do so.

On the scope of the need, the agency official said, "Currently, there are a little over 200 children in foster care here in San Luis Obispo County," and encouraged residents to consider fostering. The transcript lists a phone number that appears to be malformed and a website (slowfostercare.com) for people seeking information; the phone number in the record is not specified here due to unclear formatting.

Those interested in becoming resource parents were directed to the website listed in the transcript for more information. The remarks in the transcript were an informational recruitment effort and did not include a vote or formal action by the county.