JACKSON, Wyo. – With less than five foster families in Teton County, the foster care program is no longer able to provide homes for foster children within the community.
Foster care provides a family setting for a child who cannot safely stay in their own home. A child can stay in foster care from anywhere between a long weekend to over a year. Foster programs aim to keep children within their community so they still have access to already-established support systems like school teachers and a counselor they trust. If a child doesn’t have a foster home available to them in their county, they’ll have to move to a neighboring county.
“Wyoming typically has about 1,000 kids in foster care on average on any given day,” Kelsi Rammell, the foster care coordinator at the Department of Family Services, says. “Teton County consistently contributes to that number.” Teton County is one of three counties that Rammell oversees and has had the fewest amount of available foster homes since she started.
Rammell works to recruit, train and retain foster parents with start to finish support. On March 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. St. John’s Episcopal Church of Jackson Hole will host an event to answer any questions and educate the community on the need for foster care support.
“If a child were to come in tomorrow, we would not have a home for them,” Rammell says. “We can do so much better for our kids.”
Rammell also has many additional supporting roles that need to be filled. The foster care program relies on community awareness and nonprofit assistance. For more information, contact kelsi.rammell@wyo.gov.
