Chilean celebration to aid foster child group

Consistency isn't a word commonly used in relation to children in the foster care system. The only constant is the state of inconsistency.

Going to the same doctor, staying in a school for a full academic year, having a relationship with siblings, or living in the same house, with the same family, long enough to see two birthdays come and go are things many foster care children crave.

Child Focus, a nonprofit organization, was developed in 1999 in hopes of providing programs to help children maintain certainty in their lives. The organization picked up momentum two years ago and was accredited by the United Way in 2003.

The group's second-ever fund raiser, Sabores de Chile, a celebration of Chilean wines, food and music, is set for 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday at the Spanish Trail Golf and Country Club, 5050 Spanish Trail Lane. Jon Stokes, Spanish Trail executive chef, will serve a Chilean tapas menu and flavors from Chile.

Live entertainment, dancing and a silent auction will help generate funds, and goals are high, said Lisa Roughley, Child Focus volunteer.

"We'd be really happy if we saw $10,000, but I guess it's endless," Roughley said. "Chilean wines are hot right now. It all just fit well together."

Funds raised from the event will benefit Child Focus initiatives, such as the tutoring program, Donation Station, Camp to Belong and the long-term goal of a multipurpose facility, said Stephanie Holland, child psychologist and co-founder of Child Focus.

Holland helped start the organization when she came into contact with a 15-year-old patient, who had spent time in 20 homes in five years and needed help filling out a job application.

"He said so commonly, so forthrightly, 'I don't know how to read.' It wasn't any one person's fault. No one had time to realize," Holland said. "I knew then I had to do something personally and professionally to not allow this to continue to happen."

Currently, the tutoring program pairs children of all ages with volunteers to help them with their reading. Soon, Holland would like to see the adults help the children with their math studies. At this point, about 60 percent of foster care children don't graduate high school, Holland said.

Volunteers commit to a 10-week session, but 85 percent stay longer. The idea is to keep the tutor with the student for as long as possible, Holland said.

"Ninety percent of the foster parents reported an increase in self esteem and participation in school. We correlate that to having a consistent person," Holland added. "I think we've seen incredible positive areas of good that we're doing that we didn't even think of."

This year, Child Focus piloted a program with five high school freshmen. The ninth-graders were matched with academic mentors who will follow them and offer advice through high school. The students earn money for good grades, positive citizenship and participation in extracurricular activities.

They receive the money -- possibly up to $15,000 -- upon graduation and approval by the Child Focus board for some form of secondary education.

"The majority of them get bounced around or live in multiple homes, so they have different schools and different teachers. It's so hard to keep on top of their academics consistently," Holland said. "They will have one person who is consistent with them for four years."

Camp to Belong is a program in Colorado open to siblings in the foster care system every summer. For a week, siblings can live and play together even if they are separated in foster care. Siblings in foster care are separated 75 percent of the time, Holland said.

The goal is to bring Camp to Belong to Las Vegas during the summer of 2005 or 2006, Holland said.

"That was probably the strongest relationship they had in an abusive environment," Holland said. "To have that severed is very frightening."

Child Focus volunteers are currently working to bring siblings together quarterly and, eventually, once a month for activities. A picnic at Red Rock Conservation Area is planned, along with an art project with an art therapist.

"Once a year is great at camp, but we recognize that it needs to be more than that," Holland said.

Foster parents can care for up to six children, not including their natural or adopted children. Donation Station helps get foster parents the items they need to care for the children. Child Focus also works with Goodwill of Southern Nevada to provide parents with vouchers.

In the long term, Holland would like to build a centralized space where foster parents could bring their children for dentistry, psychological and optometry visits. Holland said she also would like to include a tutoring office and extracurricular activities in the center.

"On average, these kids come into the system and they've been medically neglected," Holland said.

The one-stop shop aspect of the clinic would help take the stress off the parents. "They miss certain appointments because they can't get to all these places. These foster parents are overwhelmed because they have all these appointments."

There are about 3,000 foster care children in Clark County and some 600,000 nationally, Holland said.

"That's a lot of our kids. (We want to) give them positive resources so they have positive choices. We want to combat those statistics and show these kids are incredibly bright and resilient and can be successful people in our society," she added. "We want to get to these kids before they're homeless, before they're on the streets."

Tickets to Sabores de Chile are $95. To reserve tickets, or for more information on Child Focus, call 436-1624.


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