Advocates for troubled kids are hoping to double the number of foster careparents in Iowa. There are currently two-thousand foster families in Iowa,some of whom are single moms or dads. Dee Kempton recruits foster careparents in western Iowa.Kempton says it takes about 90 days to complete the process of qualifying tobecome a foster parent.Foster care parents do receive a stipend from the state to cover some of thecosts of caring for a child placed in their home. Kempton says fosterparents provide a safe, stable environment for kids who need some extranuturing.There are currently about 26-hundred Iowa children living in a “foster care”home. State officials say between 1986 and ’96, there was a 60 percentincrease in the number of kids in foster care. Nationwide, there are overhalf a million kids living in foster care.
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