Orange : Foster Parents for Older Youths Will Be Sought

Officials of the Orange County Probation Department said Friday that they will institute a new program to recruit much-needed foster families for teen-agers on probation.

A $70,000-plus grant from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning will allow the department to recruit foster parents and offer them special training on the care of troubled youngsters, according to Harold Cook, director of the department’s institutional alternatives division.

Before receiving the grant, the department did not have the resources to devote to the needs of foster parents and the “frustrations they go through on a day-to-day basis with a troubled child,” Cook said.

He added that the program will attempt to deal with the needs of the foster parents as well as those of the teen-agers. “What usually happens is the kids are placed with foster parents and they’re the focus. We haven’t had time to devote to the parents, who have to deal with 13 or 14 years of chaotic upbringing,” Cook explained, adding: “We’re trying to provide the support and training the families need.”

Cook said the goal of the program is to recruit 20 families over the next 12 months. He added that two staff members in charge of the program will make presentations to community groups to discuss the pressing need for foster families.