Foster parents association aims to unite kids, families

When Amanda Manzanilla and her husband started fostering children in 2009, her life — and her perspective — quickly changed. 

“Just in general, the way I look at people, the way I look at the walks of life that they’re in and what their needs are [has changed],” said Manzanilla, who is now the president of the Shelby County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association. 

Now, she said, she looks at people and their situations not trying to find fault or blame, but with consideration for how they might have been dealt a different hand in life.

“[I’m] not necessarily even viewing them as broken, but their path in life that got them where they are is just so different from what we could call, ‘normal,’” she said. As a foster parent, she looks at how she can help families and kids who need their support. 

Being a foster parent is not solely about bringing a child into your home, she said, but it is in some circumstances about letting a family heal or get back on its feet.

“If you’re going to step in to that role of foster parenting, you’re stepping into that role of providing care and a temporary place for children who need a place to call home while their family is working toward a place of reunification,” Manzanilla said. 

With SCFAPA, they work to serve foster and adoptive parents in whatever way they can. All of the members of the association are foster parents, but they also receive support from all over the community — previous foster parents, adoptive parents, community members, faith communities, attorneys, individuals who work in the court system and the Department of Human Resources. 

“We do a lot, but specifically our organization exists to certify foster parents by providing them support, resources and training just to equip them to best serve the children they serve through foster care.”

To become a foster parent, individuals must contact the proper agency — in Alabama, it is through the county Department of Human Resources — to start the process. Then, there are several weeks of classes and about 30 hours of learning, in addition to a home study and background check “to make sure that you’re an appropriate person, an appropriate family, that your home is appropriate for children,” Manzanilla said. SCFAPA offers monthly training and education to potential foster parents.

And while certification is required to become a foster parent, Manzanilla said there are plenty of other ways to help SCFAPA and, in turn, the kids. There are about 72 foster families and nearly 200 foster children in Shelby County, Manzanilla said, and SCFAPA is always accepting donations.

People can donate money or items such as new and gently used clothing, or they can choose to sponsor a child. They have programs to sponsor kids for back to school through supplies and clothing, for Christmas through gifts or for their birthday by sponsoring presents or a birthday cake. And not everything is focused on young children.

They ask for individuals to sponsor teenagers, who often have a lot of expenses, and even for mentors for teenagers. 

Becoming a mentor or “visiting resource,” as with other volunteer roles such as offering childcare for SCFAPA at meetings or events, requires a background check, Manzanilla said, but is an invaluable resource to the kids. Giving children in the foster system a home or a person to go to for support can help them as their family recovers.

“You never know how your small step can have a great impact on a child’s life,” Manzanilla said.