PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Melvin Reynolds never envisioned himself as a foster parent.
But he took in his first youth in need, a 17-year-old boy, seven years ago. Reynolds worked with youth in residential care and then, one day, found himself taking care of foster children in his Montclair home.
“It all happened very quickly,” he remembers.
Reynolds has spent a lot of time trying to figure out why children end up in foster care. Over the years, Reynolds has cared for 10 boys ranging in ages from 12 to 20. He runs his home like the group homes he worked at — full of structure, with chores and other expectations all to be completed by a certain time.
“Kids need structure, and they need a place to vent, and they need to be taught the right way to do things,” he said.
Reynolds, himself, is doing something right. He’s been recognized as the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 2018 Foster Parent of the Year for Prince William County.
He’s now one of an exclusive club of fewer than 100 people in the region who, since 2013, has been recognized by COG for their work with foster children.
With 2,452 children in foster care in the Greater Washington region, more than half of which are over 11years old, the need for foster parents is great. There are just 1,000 available homes in the region to house foster children.
And it’s an even greater challenge to find homes for older children and for children with disabilities.
For many, these children end up in group homes
“That’s not the best outcome,” said COG Child Welfare Program Manager Surina Amin.
Letting in foster children to a home isn’t easy, at first.
“You have to let your guard down,” said Reynolds. “And children need to let their guard down. But once you’re teaching them, you learn the overall picture and you learn that every kid is not a bad kid. If you have the right attitude, patience, and you listen to them, you can see what’s going on in their lives.”
The average stay for a foster child in Reynolds’ home is about nine months. Afterward, children can return home to their birth parents or become independent. One of the most common reasons children end up in foster care is neglect, added Amin.
More information about child adoption in the Washington, D.C. region is available on COG’s website.
