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A special kind of mom

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When her telephone rings and a McLeod County social worker asks Rachel Strobel if she can take care of some children for a few days, the Glencoe resident typically can’t bring herself to say no.
Strobel is one of approximately 45 foster parents McLeod County turns to when it has children to care for after they have been removed from their homes. Five of the county’s foster households are in the immediate Glencoe area. Relatives of the children removed from the household run about half of the households. Non-relatives like Strobel run 19 foster homes. The rest are group homes. Most of the 77 children in out-of-home foster care were removed because their parents are facing some kind of drug-related criminal charge and have been removed from the home by court order said Brenda Sandquist, a county social worker and licensing specialist. Other times, a foster parent like Strobel may get the call when a foster parent or biological mom or dad needs a break and placing the child in respite care is in the best safety interest of the child.
“We don’t need big, giant homes, just a place for their things where they can be comfortable,” Sandquist said.
Foster parents are critically important to McLeod County. The county expects to spend $1.3 million in taking care of children out of their homes in 2018, up from $706,000 in 2015. The county is hosting a foster parent orientation meeting Saturday, Oct. 27, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the household hazardous waste/solid waste management building in Hutchinson at 1065 Fifth Ave. S.E. Participants at the meeting will learn what it takes to be a foster parent, the challenges foster parents face and the successes they enjoy. People interested in becoming a foster parent are asked to contact Sandquist at 320-864-1301 for more information and to register for the meeting in Hutchinson.

(For the complete story, see the Oct. 24 print edition of The Chronicle.)