Foster Care Career Unexpected, But So Natural For Her
Geraldine Stutheit agreed to baby-sit for her daughter’s friend because she loved babies - their soft skin, the way they cling to her like koalas on a tree.
But Geraldine’s heart nearly stopped when the girl gave her Baby James. He was covered with cigarette burns.
“All I could think was there’s no way he’s going back,” Geraldine says, remembering that day 10 years ago.
Her husband agreed. Their hair was graying. They’d raised their own six kids. They hadn’t planned to start over. But they did.
Geraldine reported James’ condition to child protective workers and said she wanted to keep him. She had to give him up to a foster home for 30 days while she underwent fingerprinting, background checks, house inspections and interviews for her own foster care license.
After she was approved, he returned.
“I only did it for James,” she says. “Then I got a call from Health and Welfare. They had a 12-year-old girl …” And Geraldine’s foster-care career was off and running.
For the past 10 years, young voices have filled her four-bedroom house west of Rathdrum. Social workers say there are never enough foster homes. She has room for five children plus James, whom she adopted.
They come at all hours. Distrustful teenagers. Kids who flinch when she reaches for them. A toddler with a shiner so big he says everything looks black and blue.
Some stay two days, some a year. Geraldine’s house is safe, her arms warm and inviting.
“These kids crave love,” she says. The 5-month-old boy she’s cradling coos as if cued. “Once they see you have love, they follow you everywhere, grab your hand while you talk.”
Geraldine expects children to yell, break things accidentally. She chides herself for leaving a freshly baked cake out to tempt one young charge, but also chides him for not asking before eating. Kids rarely do worse at her house.
Only one boy has threatened to hurt her. She called police and he was moved. She says most children are willing to listen to reason when they realize Geraldine won’t hit them.
The goodbyes are the hardest. Children leave Geraldine to rejoin their parents when social workers believe families are ready. That’s the goal of the program, but Geraldine remembers their bruises and she worries.
“I bite my tongue or lip to keep from crying,” she says. “But I have to remember that this is what I want, to get them back with their parents. I can’t change their lives, but I can make them happy for awhile.”
For information on foster parenting, call Lutheran Social Services at 667-1898.
Out of Africa
Remember Sandpoint’s Tina Friedman? She saw Africa on a shoestring with her daughter a year ago and adopted Siachilaba, a group of six villages in northern Zimbabwe. The villages had no electricity or running water. Children couldn’t go to school because families couldn’t afford the uniforms.
Tina spent her meager travel money on food for the villages and promised to return home and find help. On Nov. 15, she’ll throw a spaghetti feed/slide show at Sandpoint’s VFW Hall on Pine and Division to raise money for Siachilaba.
The money she raises will go toward education, medical supplies and a water system. Dinner, which will be served at 5:30 p.m., and the show will cost $7.50 for adults and $5 for children and seniors or $20 for a family of four. Tickets are available at Truby’s, The Dolphin House and Eve’s Leaves in Sandpoint.
Deep freeze
What did the early snow do to your hunting trip last week - help you track or send you sliding home? Shoot those hunting tales to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; send a fax to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or E-mail to cynthiat@spokesman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo