Stephanie and Dan Majchrzak found each other and were married later in life. They both knew they wanted children and decided to look into foster care and ultimately adoption. Finally, in December of 2014 after going through a long and stressful process, the adoption of their two daughters, Isabella, 9, and Jessica, 15, was finalized, and their family became complete.
“Neither one of us had children, so we actually did get into [foster care] for adoption purposes,” Stephanie told the Times of Wayne County on Thursday. “We did it because we thought there are so many kids who need places to be in our own backyard.
“That’s what hit home, is that people right in our own county needed a home and needed a family.”
Stephanie said that she and her husband weren’t 100 percent sold on the idea of foster care when they first decided to try it, so they arranged to take the 10-week course required to become foster parents. After learning more about it , they agreed that it was what they wanted to do.
Their first placement was through respite care, which is a service that allows foster parents and the children to have a break from each other. Stephanie said that respite is also a great to meet other kids.
“We were told about a couple of kids who were going to be needing a home, so we took them for a weekend,” Stephanie said. “Of course, as soon as we met our daughters, Jessica and Isabella, we fell in love immediately. They were the most lovable two little girls.”
According to Stephanie, she and Dan began regular visitations with the girls shortly after that weekend. Once the girls finished their school year, they were transferred to the Majchrzak’s home in Walworth, where they had them in foster care for one year before they finalized the adoption.
But the process wasn’t simple.
“You get kids in the foster care program who are not yet adoptable,” Stephanie explained. “You’re going to have to deal with court systems; you may have to deal with visits with their [biological] parents, visitations, doctor appointments, all kinds of different things that you may not have planned, especially if you’re getting into it to adopt.
“It was very stressful, but when you develop a relationship with these kids, it’s worth the fight.”
According to Judge Dennis Kehoe of Wayne County Family Court, there are two ways that a biological parent can lose rights to their children. One is through a termination of parental rights brought in motion by the Department of Social Services. The other is when a parent surrenders the rights to their children.
Kehoe said that if a parent is brought in for a neglect proceeding, a hearing is held where the court takes testimony, and the judge – not a jury – decides whether there’s proof or not that abuse or neglect is happening. Then the court enters a dispositional order, which Kehoe said is intended to protect the child from further abuse. Then they require that the child stays in foster care, for a period, under the care of DSS.
“Then the parents have to be given certain notices telling them that if the child stays in foster care for a period of 15 months out of the next 18 months, that they’re at risk of losing the custody of their child,” Kehoe said. “There are a lot of safeguards protecting the parents. No one wants to take children away from their parents, as long as they are safe.
“Unfortunately, there are times when that’s not the case.”
Kehoe noted that there were 25 surrenders of parental rights and 23 terminations last year in Wayne County and 32 adoptions, although some of those adoptions were done outside the county at private adoption agencies, who typically facilitate foreign adoptions.
One of the biggest problems with the foster care system, according to Stephanie, is that DSS is understaffed, and there aren’t nearly enough foster care homes in the county.
“I received a phone call not that long ago looking for a placement for two young kids. [DSS] was going through two or three rounds to every foster parent,” Stephanie said. “They’d go through the rounds calling everyone asking, ‘Can you take these kids? Can you take these kids?’ and they get ‘No, no, no,” and then they make the round again calling all of the same people until somebody gives in.
“We, as foster parents, want to help, but a lot of us already have our hands full as it is.”
Commissioner Josh McCrossen of Wayne County DSS said that they are constantly trying to recruit new foster parents, and there is always a need for more foster care.
“Many of these kids have experienced really rough lives up to the point where they end up in foster care,” McCrossen added. “It really takes a remarkable family to be able to open their homes and their hearts to these kids, and I respect them greatly for it.”
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