美国国家公共电台 NPR On The Navajo Nation, Foster Care Families Are In Short Supply

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Navajo Nation is struggling with a problem. And here are two numbers that put it into perspective. Twelve hundred Navajo kids cycle through foster care each year, and there are only about two dozen licensed² foster homes on the reservation. Laurel Morales of member station KJZZ reports.

LAUREL MORALES, BYLINE³: When her doorbell rings at 2 a.m, Vallis Martinez isn't as worried as you may think. It happens all the time. She opens the door and welcomes the child - no bag, no toothbrush, just the clothes on his back and a sad story. Mom or Dad were driving drunk. Parents were cooking meth or hurting each other.

VALLIS MARTINEZ: They're scared. Some are in tears screaming, no, take me home.

MORALES: But Martinez opens her arms.

MARTINEZ: I say, I'm here. There's a roof here - a warm place to sleep. Let Mom settle down - Dad settle down.

MORALES: Martinez has had as many as 16 foster children at one time in her tiny home. When the children arrive, they don't want to talk. But she shares with them her own story of abuse, and they usually open up.

MARTINEZ: I had a foster child that came came back and said that, auntie, all the clothes you bought me, my mom burnt it. She came back with rags.

MORALES: How do all these stories not break your heart?

MARTINEZ: It's where you have to make yourself strong - not to wipe your tears in front of them.

ELSIE ELTHIE: There's so many kids, and the system cannot keep up.

MORALES: Elsie Elthie is a foster home licensing⁴ specialist on the Navajo Nation.

ELTHIE: It used to be just alcohol. And then about 15 years ago, I started hearing about meth. And that has completely destroyed families.

MORALES: Elthie has the giant task of finding a safe home for those kids. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act requires Elthie to place children first with family members. If she can't find one, then she takes them to a Navajo foster family. If those homes are at capacity, then she can take kids to non-Navajo families off the reservation.

ELTHIE: We just basically need more homes. And we need support to license¹ these homes because the licensing procedure is lengthy⁵.

MORALES: Part of the problem with recruiting is funding. Last year, the tribe didn't receive federal funds for three months because of budget cuts to Health and Human Services. So foster parents had to dig in their own pockets to buy food and pay for gas. Elthie also asked for private donations.

ELTHIE: I need some food for my families. They need clothing. You know, can you help pay for their electric bill?

MORALES: The reason Elthie does what she does is she was once a foster kid herself. She knows how severe the need is.

ELTHIE: We use the concept of k'e. Even though they're not my blood relatives, I'm gonna treat them like they are my family.

MORALES: Foster mom Vallis Martinez lives by the same belief, and it's one she's helping⁶ her boyfriend Ronald Joe come to understand. Joe is new to foster care. He says when they first went out to a Navajo song and dance, he was caught up with what everyone else thought of him with all these kids.

RONALD JOE: And I was just shaking. And we sat down. I told her people are staring at us.

(LAUGHTER)

JOE: Today, she told me don't mind them.

MORALES: In fact, whenever they're out, Martinez seizes the opportunity to recruit other parents to foster children. It's a hard sell because it takes an emotional toll⁷. Joe has learned that the hard way. He helped Martinez with an infant - taught him to sit up, crawl. And just when he had learned to walk, the caseworker took him back to his family.

JOE: Man, I went down the train. It was very hard. It was - sometimes I dream of him.

MORALES: Being a foster parent is a difficult role, but it's also an important one and one the Navajo Nation needs more people, like Joe and Martinez, willing to take on. For NPR News, I'm Laurel Morales in Flagstaff.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUMMER HEART SONG, "I WANTED YOU TO STAY ON THE OTHER SIDE")