Group Seeks Stability for Foster Infants

Santa Barbara News-Press | February 26, 2012
by Catherine Shen, News-Press Correspondent

Happily munching on a fresh carrot stick and playing with cookie crumbs, 3-year-old Penny Jones was curious about everything. Her large brown eyes darted everywhere while a smile lit up when a plastic cup of juice was placed before her.

"You grow in my heart," said her mother, Charlotte Jones, while tickling Penny's nose. "You grow in my heart."

Penny was 20 months old when she first came into Ms. Jones' life through Angels Foster Care, the first local foster family agency in Santa Barbara County to specialize in the unique needs of foster babies aged 2 years and younger.

Founder Meichelle Arntz, who owns Recipes Bakery in Santa Barbara, said she became familiar with child welfare services and the courts through medical background and her volunteer experiences in the local Court Appointed Special Advocates program.

One of her cases included two brothers who had moved through seven different foster homes within the span of a year, a shocking revelation to Ms. Arntz. During their infancy and early years, it is vital for children to have the continuous presence of a nurturing parent. Unfortunately, foster infants in the Santa Barbara County system are moved an average of three times before their first birthday and often do not have the opportunity to form secure bonds with their caregivers during this critical development period, Ms. Arntz said.

"When the kids are moved so often, they begin to form attachment disorders," she said.

"It is a learned behavior which starts at a very young age, so I wanted to create a program that would focus on infants to find stable families, so they can successfully bond and attach to people who really care and love them."

Since the agency's inception in 2006, more than 100 local kids have been placed in homes. But because finding willing families remains a challenge, Angels has had to turn away 30 percent of infants referred by the county Department of Social Services.

The idea of foster care, Ms. Arntz said, still scares people.

"When people think foster care, they immediately believe all the kids have 'problems,'" Ms. Arntz said. "But these kids are no different from anyone else. They really just need a loving environment after everything they have been through."

Through the county's foster care program, a family can take as many as six children at one time and there is no long-term commitment. Angels has created its own set of precise and rigorous rules to ensure it places child with the right families.

Under Angels' representation, each family can only commit to fostering one child or a sibling group at a time until the child is either reunited with the birth family or a permanent plan is implemented, typically for 12 months.

One full-time parent is required, along with physical exams, completion of a parent training program, family assessment and home inspection, completion of psychological screening, and making sure the family has financial stability.

Typically, more than 60 percent of Angels foster parents end up adopting the foster child.

When Ms. Jones decided to welcome Penny into her home, she didn't think she was going to stay forever.

"My husband and I tried and tried to have a baby, but we just couldn't," Ms. Jones said. "So we thought about private adoption. We never thought about foster care. When we found out about Angels, we decided to give it a try."

The first thought that came to Ms. Jones' mind when deciding was the stigma society places on foster children.

"You have to realize it is no fault of the child that ended up in the foster care system," Ms. Jones said. "It's important to remember they've had to go through so much and because of that, they have to come out even stronger.

"They have had to live a very adult life," she added. "They go though experiences older 'regular' kids don't even know about."

When an abused and abandoned child is put into a loving home, they do fabulously, Ms. Arntz said.

"It is amazing what happens when these kids are loved," Ms. Arntz said. "It's not rocket science."

Preparing to foster a second child, Ms. Jones said it meant the world to her that she is able to help a child.

"The big thing for me is, I don't think you have many opportunities as an adult to make a difference," Ms. Jones said. "But this is one of them, this is saving a life."

email: news@newspress.com

It’s All for the Babies at Lions Club Angels Foster Care Dinner

Orcutt Pioneer | December 21, 2011
by Rebecca Ross Klosinski

The Lions are an “international network of 1.3 million men and women in 205 countries and geographic areas who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world.”

The Orcutt Lions Club answers many needs in our community including hosting a student speaking scholarship contest, organizing the Orcutt Christmas Parade, and supporting Kids Day in the Park, the Orcutt Community Choir, Tsunami and Tornado Relief Funds and Meals on Wheels.

Four years ago the Orcutt Lions were visited by Meichelle Arntz, founder of Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, which sparked an instant relationship between the two and added one more worthy organization to their list.

“If you listen to Meichelle’s story,” said Lion Lydia Magdaleno at a special presentation dinner for Angels Foster Care on December 7th, “you’ll know why we are so passionate about her program.”

Meichelle’s story starts long before Angels, when she worked as a CASA volunteer. During that time, she was assigned to brothers who were moved seven times within one year. When the boys weren’t in foster homes they were in a shelter, where she would visit with them and get them ready for bed whenever she could.

“They weren’t getting the holding that they needed,” she shared, “By the end of the year they were showing signs of attachment disorder. It’s an important skill to be able to bond and attach and we have a huge problem with this here in Santa Barbara County.”

Meichelle decided that something had to be done and went to visit the Angels Foster Family Network of San Diego. She thought their business model was just what was needed here and founded Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara in 2006.

“We’re all privately funded,” said Meichelle. We get no federal or state funding. We basically started with no money and no resources.”

She came to the Orcutt Lions to ask them if they would spread the word because they were always in need of foster families.”

“They said, ‘We can spread the word for you, but we’re concerned your families might not have what they need and we want to help you with that.”

And that marked the birth of the ‘Let’s Get Me Home’ kit. Meichelle explained that families often have very little notice that they will be receiving a foster baby and never know if it will be a boy or a girl or what age it will be.

The kits, which include car seats, bottles, blankets, clothes, diapers, and formula, allow families to enjoy the first few days with their new baby and focus on bonding and adjusting without having to worry about gathering necessities.

During this month’s special dinner, the Orcutt Lions Clubhouse was filled with tables that were piled high with supplies for Angels Foster Care.

“It seems too simple to just say thank you.” Meichelle told the Lions, “But thank you.”

In addition to receiving mountains of colorful baby supplies, Angels Foster Care also had another reason to celebrate.

“We just placed our one hundredth baby, “Meichelle proudly shared.

And, in fact, one hundred and two babies have now been placed in loving homes throughout Santa Barbara County.

“Our babies don’t get moved,” she explained. “They are placed in one stable family. And families can only have one baby or sibling set at a time.”

Parents go through extensive training and education before they are able to welcome a little one into their home. Sixty-five percent of infants and toddlers placed by Angels Foster Care end up being adopted by their foster parents and another twenty percent are able to be placed back with their families. For Meichelle and her team of dedicated individuals that spells success because they have been able to give an otherwise neglected child a chance to live a happy and healthy life where they are loved and cared for.

To find out more about Angels Foster Care, visit www.angelssb.com.

Angels Watch Over Santa Barbara County Foster Children

Santa Barbara Family Life | May 11, 2011
by Ellen Dameron

Read the article here.

Angels Foster Care Benefit Event Pure 'Heaven on Earth'

Noozhawk | February 22, 2011
by Angels Foster Care

Read the article here.

Take a Bow

Santa Barbara News-Press | February 26, 2010

During an event last month in Burbank, the California Association of American Mothers honored Meichelle Arntz for her service to children.

Ms. Arntz is the executive director of Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, a not-for-profit private foster family agency.

The group usually places first-time foster-care children, ranging from infants to 2 years old, and their siblings, up to 5 years old, in homes.

Susan Paulson Funk was named 2010 Santa Barbara Young Mother of the Year. The local resident is the mother of seven children, is active in church service and the school system. She is the president of a group for preteens and teenagers and has volunteered in children’s classroom for the last 15 years.

The women were introduced by the 2009 California Young Mother of the Year, Cherry Field of Goleta. This year’s theme was “A Mother is Forever.”

Lend a Hand: Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Magazine | June 1, 2009

“There weren’t enough foster families in Santa Barbara,” recalls Meichelle Arntz of her experiences as a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer for two boys relocated among foster care six times in 2004.

“There was often nowhere for the kids to go.” Upon coming to that realization, Arntz—a mother of five and former obstetrics nurse—began researching models on which to base a private, nonprofit foster care agency and discovered Angels Foster Family Network, founded by Cathy Richman in San Diego in 1998. “What struck me,” says Arntz of Angels, “was that the children stay in one place during their foster experience, they are the only foster child in the home, and a full time parent is required.”

With Richman’s approval and a grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation. Arntz, her husband Jeffrey Lipshitz, and a volunteer board of directors founded the Santa Barbara Angels Foster Care in 2006. The organization now includes a staff of four as well as 45 foster families who take care of the children. “They love it,” says Arntz, “and more families want to help because they see them doing it so beautifully.” Parents committed to long-term fostering provide homes for babies age two and under and their siblings up to age five - the crucial years of relational development - until the courts determine whether the children can be returned to their biological parents or should be considered for adoption.

Becoming an Angels family can take up to three months; the application process begins with a phone screening and ends with a psychological exam. After a child moves in with a foster family for the year-long placement period, social workers visit as needed to monitor the progress, and the biological parents often have weekly supervised visits for the duration of the stay.

Since its inception, Angels has placed more than 45 children. Of these babies, 65 percent have been adopted by their foster parents. Yet when reunion with biological parents is the outcome, “Angels parents miss the children, but reunification is the goal,” says Arntz. “The focus is on the child.”

Meichelle Arntz: Foster Care Angel

Santa Barbara Independent | November 26, 2008

Thirty-five babies with nowhere else to go have found loving homes through Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, founded just two years ago by Meichelle Arntz.

The beauty of Angels is its ability to emphasize quality over quantity: Only one baby or set of siblings per foster family, and the baby stays until it is reunited with its birth family or is adopted by the foster parent.

A registered nurse and former manager of a high-risk pregnancy unit in a Las Vegas hospital, Arntz feels fortunate that she can donate her services as executive director. Her mission is to prevent the attachment disorders that affect so many foster children, who are often neglected to start with and then are almost certainly shunted from one foster placement to another.

Strong bonding before age two, said Arntz, helps children blossom and thrive. "It's amazing what a difference it makes," she said.

The one-baby rule is a lot easier on the foster parents, too, said Arntz. Those in the public system are authorized to take as many as six foster children at a time, and can make a living by doing so because the per-child stipends add up. But they are also pressured to do so by social workers, who are desperate to place the 900 children countywide who are currently under their protection.

The absence of such pressure, and plenty of support, is one reason Arntz has been able to recruit so many new foster parents. Still, they had to turn away 43 babies last year alone, so they are always looking for more well-qualified angels.

Angels Work To Help Foster Children

Coastal Woman Magazine | June 21, 2008
by Jill S. Harrison

“It was love at first sight,” says Christie Gray between playful kisses her 10-month-old foster daughter, Hope, plants on her cheek. Gray and her husband thought about fostering a baby for almost a year before deciding to commit with Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara. “There was a little bit of fear before,” she says, “but the second we saw her, we knew it was meant to be.” To protect their identities, we have changed Hope’s name and those of her foster family for this story.

Gary, her husband, and their two sons, ages 3 and 5, are one of 22 Santa Barbara County families certified with Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, an independent, nonprofit foster family agency focusing on toddlers and infants.

Witnessing the disappointing state of the county foster care program drove Meichelle Arntz to start the agency. As a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates, Arntz watched the two brothers she worked with move between six foster homes in 12 months. She saw how the frequent moving affected the boys and recognized the need for children to stay in one stable, loving home.

“You can take a normal kid, and they get moved and moved, and it’s such a traumatic experience that they get these attachment disorders,” Arntz explains. “Eventually they just go ‘Why bother?’ because they feel that once they get attached, they are just going to get taken away again.”

“Determined to make a positive impact on the foster care system, Arntz liked the model developed by Angels Foster Family Network in San Diego, which works to give foster children the opportunity to develop bonding skills. “Bonding is learned process,” Arntz explains, adding that is children don’t learn to bond by age 2, they can develop attachment disorders, which result in the inability to care for and empathize with others. To help prevent this, Angels of Santa Barbara adopted methods proven successful in San Diego and began placing children in 2006.

Unlike traditional foster homes, which accept up to six foster children at a time, Angels’ families commit to fostering only one child or sibling group at a time, until the court determines a final home - either reunited with the birth family or adopted - which typically takes about one year. Families also must have a stay-at-home parent to take care of the child full time. “[Children] need to feel a part of a family and loved and wanted,” Gray explains. “That’s why Angels is so needed. Children need that stability and bonding.” After 60 days in an Angels home, all of the children appear attached, bonded and trusting, Arntz says.

When the Gray family took in Hope, she was six week sold. Photos from that time show a sad, scared and listless baby. “She was obviously not used to getting attention,” Gray says, as the now-10-month-old giggles and romps from toy to toy in the center of the living room. “But she got out of that fast. We held her a lot and made sure she was attaching to us. She has just blossomed.”
When Child Protective Services (CPS) takes a child into custody, it initially hopes to find relatives who can adequately care for the child; if it finds none, however, the child enters foster care. To decide whether the child goes to county foster care or an independent agency, such as Angels, CPS looks for caregivers who best match the needs of a particular child, says Cindy Nott, the child welfare services division chief for Santa Barbara County. Considerations include location (to make parents visits possible), the need to keep siblings together and a family’s ability to meet a child’s specific needs. “If we have the opportunity to send a baby to Angels, its great for us,” Nott says. “They work with a limited age group, but they really specialize and give great care.”

One key to Angels’ success is the in-depth screening families must go through before they can foster; a process that disqualifies about 30% of applicants. Angels’ potential foster parents must talk to social workers, complete application forms, have fingerprints taken and undergo a medical exam, psychological test and home study. Next comes 16 hours of training on parenting, the court system and other basics of foster parenting. Families complete these steps at their own pace, which ranges between six weeks and three months.
Gray says her family adjusted easily to having Hope, and though she initially worried about how her sons would react, they have done great. “The boys love having a sister,” she says. “My 5-year-old even said that he’s happy to give her a home for a year.” Arntz believes children adjust to fostering better than adults do.

The goal of foster care is to return the children to their biological parents. If a child’s birth family proves it can provide a safe, stable home, the baby will go home. If not, the child becomes available for adoption, and sometimes foster families adopt their foster child.
The Gray family hopes to adopt Hope if the opportunity arises. “Our goal is to have three kids, but we want a child who needs a home,” Gray explains. “We’re not trying to take her away from her family.”

Though Gray admits that letting go of Hope would be difficult, she says adults need to put aside their feelings and consider the child’s best interests. “If she stays, fantastic; if not, of course, we’ll miss her; but I’ll be happy that her parents have straightened out their lives,” Gray says. “There are hundreds of other children out there who need loving homes, and sooner or later it will just work out and one will stay.”

Angels Foster Care is looking for more families to help children in need of foster homes. Right now, the Santa Barbara County foster care system contains about 900 children, and not enough homes exist to accommodate them. To find homes for Santa Barbara’s foster infants and toddlers, Angels needs at least 20 new families this year, especially those willing to take in sibling groups.

Community Marches For Foster Kids

Santa Barbara News-Press | October 30, 2008
by Dave Mason

Phileen Jones shed some tears as she thought of the little girl who left her.

But for a foster parent, doing what's right can mean doing what's hard. Her eyes a little moist, Mrs. Jones, 49, of Santa Barbara, explained she couldn't care for both the girl and her brother, but both siblings are together and headed to a foster family who could eventually adopt them.

Mrs. Jones talked about that Wednesday just before she joined an estimated 250 people who carried photo cutouts of foster children down State Street to the steady beat of a drum. Cheri Diaz, who has taken care of a total of 25 foster children and has adopted four of them, now ages 2 to 10, listened to her and gave her some verbal support.

"It's painful because you invested in their lives," Mrs. Diaz said about foster children leaving a home. "But it's also exhilarating to know they're in a home and knowing you've met their needs."

It's not easy being a foster parent, the Santa Barbara resident said. "No kidding, running a simple errand can take five hours. All the foster kids have to have a medical exam in 30 days.

"It's a challenge, but it's the most rewarding challenge I've had in my life," she said.
The Forgotten Children's March went from De la Guerra Plaza to the Courthouse Sunken Garden, where the cutouts on the move joined 450 cutouts already in the ground. The 850 cutouts were meant to represent the number of foster children who enter the nation's foster-care system each day, according to Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, which organized the walk.

At the Courthouse Sunken Garden, Kenny and Crosby Loggins were on the bill for entertainment at a community fair, and awards were presented to those who have supported CASA's efforts for foster children.

The cutouts in the traveling exhibit featured the children carrying signs that said things such as, "Foster children should be seen and heard."

And that was the point of the march, said Maria Long, executive director of the Santa Barbara chapter of CASA. The organization's advocates represent and help the same foster child until he or she is adopted or becomes an adult.

"What a lot of people don't know is there are over 700 children in Santa Barbara County in foster care," Ms. Long said during an interview at De la Guerra Plaza. "Because of confidentiality, they are often unseen."

"We are the first of 900 CASAs to receive this (photo cutout) exhibit," said Ms. Long, who was at the Washington Monument for the exhibit.

Foster children in the worst situations have CASA advocates helping them, but many foster children don't have that advantage and need to be remembered by the community, said Marilyn Hart, a CASA advocate from Santa Ynez who came to the march.

It's not easy being a foster child, said another CASA advocate, Cecily Hintzen, 50, of Santa Barbara. "They're moved from placement to placement and are asked to give up a lot. Their whole lives are turned upside down, as they move away from their friends and families."
Mrs. Jones said it's difficult to let foster children go, but during the walk, her tearful eyes had given way to a big smile.

"It's great to see so many people. There's a lot of business people here; these men and women work, and they're giving a little bit of their time," she said as she walked with the big group of people and photo cutouts around her. Spectators watched along State Street as police and a drummer led the march.

As the march began back in De la Guerra Plaza, Marika Bookin, 52, of Goleta, who has been a foster parent, walked with a group of men, women and children in light blue T-shirts with a photo of a baby on their backs. They were promoting Angels Foster Care, an organization that helps to find placements for foster children, ages infant to 3.
"It's very important these children have a safe home where they feel loved," she said, walking to the beat of the march's drum.

Angels Watch Over Them

Coastal Woman Magazine | June 21, 2008
by Jill S. Harrison

“It was love at first sight,” says Christie Gray between playful kisses her 10-month-old foster daughter, Hope, plants on her cheek. Gray and her husband thought about fostering a baby for almost a year before deciding to commit with Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara. “There was a little bit of fear before,” she says, “but the second we saw her, we knew it was meant to be.” To protect their identities, we have changed Hope’s name and those of her foster family for this story.

Gary, her husband, and their two sons, ages 3 and 5, are one of 22 Santa Barbara County families certified with Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, an independent, nonprofit foster family agency focusing on toddlers and infants.

Witnessing the disappointing state of the county foster care program drove Meichelle Arntz to start the agency. As a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates, Arntz watched the two brothers she worked with move between six foster homes in 12 months. She saw how the frequent moving affected the boys and recognized the need for children to stay in one stable, loving home.

“You can take a normal kid, and they get moved and moved, and it’s such a traumatic experience that they get these attachment disorders,” Arntz explains. “Eventually they just go ‘Why bother?’ because they feel that once they get attached, they are just going to get taken away again.”

“Determined to make a positive impact on the foster care system, Arntz liked the model developed by Angels Foster Family Network in San Diego, which works to give foster children the opportunity to develop bonding skills. “Bonding is learned process,” Arntz explains, adding that is children don’t learn to bond by age 2, they can develop attachment disorders, which result in the inability to care for and empathize with others. To help prevent this, Angels of Santa Barbara adopted methods proven successful in San Diego and began placing children in 2006.

Unlike traditional foster homes, which accept up to six foster children at a time, Angels’ families commit to fostering only one child or sibling group at a time, until the court determines a final home - either reunited with the birth family or adopted - which typically takes about one year. Families also must have a stay-at-home parent to take care of the child full time. “[Children] need to feel a part of a family and loved and wanted,” Gray explains. “That’s why Angels is so needed. Children need that stability and bonding.” After 60 days in an Angels home, all of the children appear attached, bonded and trusting, Arntz says.

When the Gray family took in Hope, she was six week sold. Photos from that time show a sad, scared and listless baby. “She was obviously not used to getting attention,” Gray says, as the now-10-month-old giggles and romps from toy to toy in the center of the living room. “But she got out of that fast. We held her a lot and made sure she was attaching to us. She has just blossomed.”
When Child Protective Services (CPS) takes a child into custody, it initially hopes to find relatives who can adequately care for the child; if it finds none, however, the child enters foster care. To decide whether the child goes to county foster care or an independent agency, such as Angels, CPS looks for caregivers who best match the needs of a particular child, says Cindy Nott, the child welfare services division chief for Santa Barbara County. Considerations include location (to make parents visits possible), the need to keep siblings together and a family’s ability to meet a child’s specific needs. “If we have the opportunity to send a baby to Angels, its great for us,” Nott says. “They work with a limited age group, but they really specialize and give great care.”

One key to Angels’ success is the in-depth screening families must go through before they can foster; a process that disqualifies about 30% of applicants. Angels’ potential foster parents must talk to social workers, complete application forms, have fingerprints taken and undergo a medical exam, psychological test and home study. Next comes 16 hours of training on parenting, the court system and other basics of foster parenting. Families complete these steps at their own pace, which ranges between six weeks and three months.
Gray says her family adjusted easily to having Hope, and though she initially worried about how her sons would react, they have done great. “The boys love having a sister,” she says. “My 5-year-old even said that he’s happy to give her a home for a year.” Arntz believes children adjust to fostering better than adults do.

The goal of foster care is to return the children to their biological parents. If a child’s birth family proves it can provide a safe, stable home, the baby will go home. If not, the child becomes available for adoption, and sometimes foster families adopt their foster child.
The Gray family hopes to adopt Hope if the opportunity arises. “Our goal is to have three kids, but we want a child who needs a home,” Gray explains. “We’re not trying to take her away from her family.”

Though Gray admits that letting go of Hope would be difficult, she says adults need to put aside their feelings and consider the child’s best interests. “If she stays, fantastic; if not, of course, we’ll miss her; but I’ll be happy that her parents have straightened out their lives,” Gray says. “There are hundreds of other children out there who need loving homes, and sooner or later it will just work out and one will stay.”

Angels Foster Care is looking for more families to help children in need of foster homes. Right now, the Santa Barbara County foster care system contains about 900 children, and not enough homes exist to accommodate them. To find homes for Santa Barbara’s foster infants and toddlers, Angels needs at least 20 new families this year, especially those willing to take in sibling groups.

Angels Work To Help Foster Children

Santa Barbara News-Press | December 28, 2007
by Nora K. Wallace

Meichelle Arntz looks around the Santa Ynez Valley and knows there are people who can help her.

A few families have heeded her call, and now she's on the lookout for more.

Ms. Arntz is the founding force behind Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara County, a licensed private foster family agency she started a year ago to provide "stable, loving, safe homes to children" in need. The agency is now branching out into the North County, specifically looking for homes in the Santa Ynez Valley and Lompoc area.

Her agency works independently, but with the cooperation of, Santa Barbara County Social Services, which offers her referrals for children needing care.

Angels targets children from birth to age 5, particularly in an effort to help with infant attachment and bonding in the first 24 months of life. That early attachment is critical as a child develops, said Ms. Arntz, a registered nurse who specializes in high-risk pregnancy.

According to Angels, there are currently about 900 foster children in Santa Barbara County, with 200 of them aged newborn to two-years-old. Santa Barbara County has an estimated 120 foster families; while Angles has 22 families on board.

Thus far, the foster care agency has placed about 18 babies in its 14 months of existence.

"Our goal was 10 in the first year," Ms. Arntz recalled. "We're driven by what is needed."

The county's foster program has its own set of rules, and Angels created specific and stringent guidelines for families wishing to take on the role under its representation. Families are permitted to foster only one child, or sibling group, at a time. The county allows up to six foster children in one home. Angels also requires at least one stay-at-home parent, and families must agree to a one-year commitment. Some babies are adopted into new families, while others are reunited with family members.

Prospective foster parents are screened and trained, and must complete an in-depth personality test and an eight-week training program. Families also receive regular visits from social workers.

The program is modeled after a similar agency in San Diego County, and came after Ms. Arntz spent time as a volunteer with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program locally. CASA volunteers serve as advocates for children in the child welfare and court systems and Ms. Arntz became distressed at the foster care system. In 2005, Santa Barbara County sent 200 children out of the county for care because there weren't enough foster homes, she said.
Such distances can be extreme hardships for families making court dates or wanting to have visitation, she said.

"There are a couple private agencies (in Santa Barbara County), but we are the only one focusing on first-time foster care and stabilizing the children," said Ms. Arntz, the mother of five.

Since the beginning of the year, the agency has had to turn away 43 children referred from Social Services, because of the lack of foster parents. That's in part why they're branching into the North County, and also hiring a North County social worker.

"There's such a need," Ms. Arntz explained. "I have three children right now (needing placement)."

One recently placed newborn lives temporarily in Buellton, cared for in a spacious and comfy home already filled with the young biological children of the care-givers. The family and child cannot be named because of confidentiality concerns, and to protect the little boy.

The foster mother found out about Angels from another friend.

"I never realized the need was there," she said. "We've been blessed. We have our children. We're not doing this to adopt. We decided to help a baby or help a family."

Though clearly getting used once again to middle-of-the-night awakenings, the foster mom deemed the process "incredible."

Her children, she said, love the little boy.

"We talked a lot about it as a family," she explained. "We told them the baby wouldn't stay with us."

The youngest child in the family caught on quick --she says the family is "babysitting" the boy, a plump, happy infant.

The family had not much time to prepare. Once they were certified, Ms. Arntz called them with a day's notice about the baby.

The foster mother has had some explaining to do to close friends and family members, with some questioning whether her own children, as well as she and her husband, will get attached to the baby boy, and he to them.

"If he does get attached, great, I'm doing my job," she said. "If not me, who else? There are babies going into shelters (because of lack of foster homes). It's a sacrifice you have to make (to become a foster parent). We keep that in our minds. He deserves that."

Families in the program, Ms. Arntz said, are truly in flux. They can't make long-term commitments during the year of care, because there may be court dates or other duties.

"The families really make it about the babies and not themselves," Ms. Arntz said. "That's hard, figuring how to make the best possible situation for this baby, who needs to learn to bond and attach. For parents to step up and put their hearts on the line, it can be heartbreaking."

The Buellton mother says so many of the foster care problems would be solved if "everyone could just do it once. We feel like we're doing our part. Our community needs to step up."

Families signed on with Angels are not paid by the agency, but do receive a small monthly state stipend of just more than $400 to provide for the child.

"We'd like to have 20 homes in 2008," Ms. Arntz said of potential foster families. "My goal would be families waiting for babies, rather than babies in shelters."

The agency is also in the process of hiring its second social worker, because of the amount of work available.

"Foster Care is such a huge problem in our county," Ms. Arntz said. "People understand it is an issue we need to take care of. We need to step up and take care of it. I hasn't taken long for people to catch onto the vision.
People get it."

For more information about Angles Foster Care of Santa Barbara, contact
898-0901 or go online at www.angelssb.com. Angels is aided by a board of directors that includes Dr. Jeffrey Lipshitz, a perinatologist; attorney Hugh Spackman; Dr. Karen Brill; Dr. Charish Barry, a pediatrician; Carol Brown, director of the Dream Foundation and Linda Elton, secretary/treasurer.

Watching Over Children

Santa Maria Times | November 11, 2007
by Ryan McMaster

Meichelle Arntz has seen the instability that foster care programs can force on children.

About three years ago, Arntz, a registered nurse, began training to be a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for Santa Barbara County. CASA volunteers help guide abused and neglected children through court proceedings.

She recalled being assigned two brothers, one nearly 2 years old and one 4 years old.
“At the time, they were still living with their biological mom,” she said. “Then I saw them in six different placements in 12 months. … I couldn’t believe how much the boys moved around.”

Seeing how such a program could be harmful to a child/s development, Arntz set out to think of better ways to serve young children in need. The result was Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara County, which serves children throughout the county.

“I was so upset looking into the program that I wanted to start a different type of foster care,” she said.

One of the most crucial needs foster children have is learning how to bond with others within the first two years of life, Arntz said.

She said 80 percent of prison inmates have been in foster care systems.
“Kids like this have a detachment disorder,” she said. “It’s very important for them to learn how to attach and bond within the first 24 months.”

She said that a number of children who experience detachment disorders by age 2 find it difficult to overcome them later in life, which can lead to rebellious behavior.

So Arntz found a model for the foster care program she would help develop for the Central Coast - Angels Foster Care of San Diego, which had successfully placed about 200 babies in foster care since its original formation nearly a decade ago. Arntz began training for her own license and in 2006 founded her program and began serving as executive director of the board.

Angels Foster Care is a charity that offers 24-hour social workers and focuses on children 2 years old and younger. The program diverts children from the large numbers that the county deals with in it’s foster care systems.

Anne Rodriguez, department analyst for Children’s Welfare Services, said Santa Barbara County’s Foster Care Services welcomes the support of Angel’s Foster Care. She said that of the 900 children under Child Welfare Services, about 568 of them are in out-of-home care, including foster homes, group homes and children who are living with relatives. The remainder of the children live with their biological parents in a supervised setting.

“With any of those kids (in out-of-home care), about 56 percent can be reunited with their parents and the rest cannot,” Rodriguez said. She added the county had about 75 adoptions of children last year.

There are shelters with beds for children that need out-of-home care as soon as possible. Such shelters, which are all at their full capacity, include two with 12 beds each in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria, as well as one with six beds in Lompoc.

Arntz spoke of specific ways in which the program is different than county-based foster care services.

“One is how we choose our families,” she said. “They are very carefully screened and each parent has to pass an MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). … We turn away about 30 percent of the people that apply.” The MMPI is the most common adult test for psychopathology.

Parents must also undergo an eight-week training program in which they learn how to nurture and care for infants and young children. Also, one parent must be a stay-at-home parent.
Arntz also said Angels Foster Care families have to keep children for at least 12 months at a time and they are only allowed to care for one child, though they may have biological children of their own.

This allows for much more individual attention for a child, as traditional foster families sometimes have as many as six children, not including their own biological children, she said. The restriction makes it easier to recruit families, she said.

Children stay with qualifying foster parents until they are adopted or reunited with their biological parents. The families receive a monthly state reimbursement of $425.
Arntz said Angels Foster Care needs more support countywide, especially in Lompoc. Currently, the program has 14 children in 14 foster homes, but has had to turn away 36 infants since January. Some children had to be sent to families outside of Santa Barbara County, which makes it more difficult to eventually reunite with their birth parents.

One Lompoc mother-of-four, who asked that her name not be used, said she took a child from Angel’s so that her children could experience being around an infant.

“My kids were born close together, so they never knew what it was like to be around a small child,” the mother said. “I wanted to give them that experience.”

Her children have even helped in caring for the infant in their own ways - her 8-year-old changes dirty diapers and her 11-year-old supervises the infant in the bath.

“I think especially with her being so young, it (the attachment) is happening whether I like it or not,” she said. “We all love her. I recommend it to everybody. I tell everybody that asks that it’s a positive experience.”

“It’s totally worth every moment, even at three in the morning.”

Real Life Angels

Central Coast Magazine | December 1, 2007
by Anne Vidor & Jamie Relth

There may be no more heartrending issue than that of children adrift in our foster care system. Taxed by under-funding and overcrowding, the fine people who try to care for kids that have been abandoned or removed from their primary homes fight a mostly losing battle every day, but they fight nonetheless. And while all children are helpless in this situation, there are none more so than the youngest of them.

Meichelle Arntz, a former High-Risk Pregnancy Nurse and mother of five, decided to help by becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. Her charges were two young brothers under the age of four, and her role was to work on their behalf to make sure the children’s needs were met through negotiating with the courts and foster care system. To her dismay, the boys were moved between shelter care and various foster homes six times in 12 months.

“This was devastating for them. It slowed permanency planning from the legal aspect and both of them have suffered greatly due to this instability,” she says.
Arntz admits that she hadn’t even been aware there was a severe crisis in foster care, but this eye-opening experience became a calling she couldn’t ignore. “When I found out what was going on, I just wanted to help. It started as simply as that.”

Her research led her to a Southern California program that became her model. Angels Foster Care of San Diego, founded by Cathy Richman, is dedicated to placing infants and toddlers into carefully selected households rather than typical foster homes. Richman helped guide Arntz in the creation of the program in Santa Barbara County.

What makes this approach so different is that children are placed in a single stable home through the entire duration of their time as a foster child—concluded either by the child returning to the birth family or when parental rights have been terminated and they are available for adoption. Equally powerful is that there is one child placed in each household, with an exception made for siblings. A typical county foster situation may have up to six foster children at any given time along with, in some cases, the foster parents’ own kids.
Focusing on infants and children under the age of two (they will go up to the age of four for siblings), Angels works with hospitals, children’s shelters, and county agencies, which refer the children. Twenty-five percent of those who enter the foster care system do so before their first birthday; newborns make up the largest percentage of this group. This can result in serious bonding issues that create long-term problems.

“Young children have a window to attach securely to care givers and if that window is missed (0 – 24 months) it is extremely difficult to make up for this. Attachment disorders may result,” says Arntz. “Eighty percent of prison inmates were in the foster care system at some time in their lives.”

Angels foster parents are thoroughly screened and are selected for their desire to change the life of a child and their ability to do so. There must be one stay-at-home parent, and they have to be financially able to welcome a child into their home. Though the job isn’t easy, there is plenty of training and support for Angels parents. Any child in foster care has been through a traumatic event; some come through it with health and emotional issues as a result while some have been more seriously affected by the events in their young lives.

“One Angels family rescued a severely drug exposed infant. They began their work by visiting and bonding with this little newborn in the intensive care unit. He was having withdrawals from the prenatal drug exposure, was stiff and shaking, and made no eye contact. I saw him with his Angels family two weeks later and he was relaxed, able to be soothed, was gaining weight, and eating and sleeping well,” She recalls. “He is now well bonded in his Angels family and hitting all of his developmental milestones on time.”
Arntz founded Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara with her own seed money, and works full-time without salary. This 501(c)3 is supported entirely through private donations. According to Arntz, there are approximately 200 toddlers and babies in need of care in Santa Barbara County. There is still plenty to do, but this angel is making a real, lasting difference in the lives of young children every day.

Advocate Aims to Be Angel to Foster Children

Santa Barbara News-Press | June 26, 2006
by Melissa Evans

As a mother, Meichelle Arntz is shocked by the state of Santa Barbara County's foster care system.

Children have been shuffled from home to home, sometimes placed with families caring for five other children.

Many didn't feel wanted. Many didn't have any sense of stability, and lacked the ability to trust.

Some are even sent out of the county because there aren't enough homes here.

"I was really surprised at what was going on," said Ms. Arntz, a registered nurse who specializes in high-risk pregnancy.

After two years as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) -- a volunteer who helps kids wend their way through the court system -- Ms. Arntz decided to do something.

She began Angels Foster Care of Santa Barbara, a new agency that will pair local parents with babies and young children until they are either adopted or reunited with their birth parents. It's patterned after a program in San Diego.

The county already runs and licenses foster homes, but Angels is unusual: Foster parents would only be allowed one child at a time, the agency would only deal with children under 3 years old, potential parents would have to undergo strict psychological examinations, and they must commit to at least a year with the program.

"We want families who will be excited when they get a child," she said.
After a year of planning, she is ready to begin screening parents. They will be trained by the agency's only paid employee, a licensed social worker whose office is located in an attic-like building adjacent to Ms. Arntz' Hope Ranch home.

A board of directors, including a psychologist, attorney, physician, educator and other advisers will guide the process.

County officials say the need for this is tremendous. Santa Barbara has about 600 children in foster care, about one-third of whom are sent to counties because there aren't enough people here willing to take them in.

When children leave the county, it makes reunification with their parents much more difficult because they have less contact, said Maria Long, executive director of the CASA program.
"We're in a true crisis," she said. "The number of children in foster care has doubled in a very short time."

Officials attribute those increases to a number of factors, including poverty, and a spike in methamphetamine addiction, resulting in children being taken from their parents. The CASA program has about 100 children on a waiting list for volunteers.

One of the challenges of starting this kind of program is changing the public's perception of "foster parents," said Cathy Richman, who started the San Diego Angel's program in 1998 and has had great success, placing 160 children in foster homes so far.

"We've had to put a new spin on what it means to be a foster parent," she said. "We are looking to find the right family for the child. One hundred percent of the emphasis is on the child. We live in a society that doesn't really recognize the rights of the child."

Only about 60 percent of potential foster parents pass their psychological test, she said, adding that "anything that makes us raise our eyebrows, we pass on them."

Parents undergo an eight-week training session, which includes lessons on infant care, special needs children, bonding issues, nurturing, medical care and other topics. The parents then receive a state reimbursement of $425 a month.

Ms. Arntz, whose nonprofit program is licensed by the state, hopes to have about a dozen children placed by December.

Her program will operate similarly to the one in San Diego, focusing on younger children who haven't yet been subjected to numerous moves. The first two years of a child's life are the most critical, she said.

"They need a lot of attention," she said. "They need to bond with someone who they can count on."

About 50 percent of the children in Santa Barbara County end up being adopted, either by foster parents or someone else. The goal, however, is reuniting the children with their parents, she said.

Ms. Arntz has been caring for two young boys for the last year and a half. She also has five children, only one of whom is still at home. She and her husband, a physician, are adopting an 18-month-old this September.

The nursery in her wooded home is already decorated with a crib, curtains and toys.

"If you're going to ask people to do something, you have to be willing to do it yourself," she said.

"It's such a gift. We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to live, and I think when people see the need, they would be willing to help. Plus, it's fun to have a little one in the house."