GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Every kid is one adult away from being a success story, but the Hibbs family comes as a package.
For more than six years they’ve been fostering kids from 5 days old to 19 years of age.
“We’ve done it all from emergency care to long term placement,” Shonda Hibbs, a foster parent, said.
So far Shonda Hibbs and her husband Michael Hibbs have fostered more than 56 kids, they say the hardest thing to say is goodbye.
"As a foster parent you’re asked to a do a job where your payment is a broken heart,” she said, adding, “If you don’t have a broken heart, you didn’t do it right.”
Gaston County Department of Health & Human Services is just one of many centers looking for temporary placement for more than 400 kids.
"The biggest thing is trying to utilize the foster homes we have here in Gaston County to our maximum capacity,” Konecka Drakeford, with Gaston County DHHS, said.
Drakeford said while the number of foster homes has increased from 40 to 78, the number of kids in need has also increased due to things like parental drug use and mental health issues. That uptick is causing many kids to need care much longer.
“In Gaston County more kids are adopted than they are being reunified with their family,” Drakeford said.
She said they’re also seeing more undocumented kids who speak different languages in need of temporary care, leaving them with even more limited options.
“It’s a process but we are working through it,” Drakeford said.
Right now they have a goal in place to get 100 foster homes this year with hopes of more families will open their homes and their hearts.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.