Foster care support worker Brigit Parks-Montgomery (right) with foster parent Nicolle Tate and her  adopted daughter -- one of the many families she supports.

Foster parents could get a call at any time from an agency worker to place a child in their homes. They may have children of all ages coming in and out of their homes. They may not always get the recognition they deserve. 

But, because of Foster Care support workers, those foster parents do get the support they need. 

Brigitte Parks-Montgomery, who has been a Foster Care support worker for nearly two years, spends most of her mornings catching up on paperwork related to her caseload. One such case included a child who was placed over the weekend in one of her foster homes. 

“We have 72 hours from the time the child is placed to do a home visit,” she said one afternoon earlier this year. “For the homes that currently have children in them, we must conduct home visits at least once a month. A lot of what we do is paperwork here at the office. We get e-mails from workers looking for open foster homes. We get updates from foster parents that we must enter into SACWIS (the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System).  

“We must complete home studies to make sure the homes are safe for the children –- all of that must be entered into SACWIS,” she continued. “We have to make sure the foster parents are keeping up with their training. Foster parents must get recertified every two years. We do their midway reevaluation at one year. We have a lot going on all of the time.” 

Parks-Montgomery, who is the mother of four biological children and 30-plus foster children she’s taken in over the years, may have a lot going on each day, but that doesn’t stop her from loving her job. 

“In a sense, with this job, I’m completing the circle,” she said. “My parents both died of a drug overdose so I was raised by my grandparents. Then, at 16, I got pregnant, so I had to deal with that at a young age. I was able to go to college and even obtained my master’s degree, but it wasn’t easy. 

“I decided to become a foster parent 22 years ago,” Parks-Montgomery continued. “Then I started at the agency three and a-half years ago as an Ongoing worker, and now this position. With this job, I can see a situation from everyone’s point of view –- the child, the biological parent, the foster parent, the Ongoing worker. I love what I do because I get to help people every day.” 

During her first home visit of the afternoon, Parks-Montgomery met with Nicolle Tate, a foster mother who adopted a 2-year-old in February and hopes to adopt another infant staying in her home. 

Parks-Montgomery discussed the child with Tate, talking about medical issues, the car seat the child is transferred in, if anyone else has been with the child at the home or any other concerns that Tate might have concerning the foster child.

“When we do visits, we have to see the child, even if he or she is sleeping,” Parks-Montgomery explained as she quietly peeked in on the sleeping infant. “We just need to make sure they’re doing okay. Khamari, her newly adopted daughter, was 1.6 pounds when she was born and brought to Nicolle’s home. It’s amazing to see her as a thriving 2-year-old now. Nicolle has done a great job with her.” 

The visit to Tate’s home was relatively short since neither the foster parent nor the worker had any concerns towards the care of the infant. From there, Parks-Montgomery headed to the home of a foster mother who had taken in four teenage girls. 

“She is strict, but it’s good for the girls,” she said. “The girls like being with her because she is consistent. A lot of them don’t have anything stable in their lives, but when they’re with her, they’re stable, for the most part.” 

At the visit, she and the foster mother discussed what would happen with the foster children when the mother had knee surgery. 

“They probably could stay with her since they’re older, but at least for the first couple of weeks during her recovery, I’d rather place them in another home,” Parks-Montgomery said. “Since I see the kids during my visits, it becomes personal to me. I like to see that the kids are doing good and succeeding in the home.” 

But as Parks-Montgomery said a few times during the day, you just never know what will come up during a home visit. On this particular day, she learned that one of the teenage girls was being taken out of the home. 

“She and one of the other girls cussed out a teacher so they were suspended,” the foster mother explained to Parks-Montgomery. “The one girl knew she’d been in the wrong, but the other was rude to me as well so I asked her to leave. Her Ongoing worker is on his way here to get her stuff. I believe they’re taking her to a respite home.” 

The teenager was no longer at the home when Parks-Montgomery arrived. She had left instead of waiting for her Ongoing worker to arrive. The girl did return before Parks-Montgomery left the visit.  

“You just never know what to expect,” she said. “I think it’s definitely helped that I was – still am actually – a foster parent,” she said. “I’ve been there and understand what it’s like to be in their shoes. I think it makes it easier for them to talk to me about certain things, too, because they know I’ve been there. For the most part, I have a good relationship with the foster parents on my caseload. 

“Unfortunately, I’ve had some parents tell me they just couldn’t do it anymore due to the economy,” Parks-Montgomery continued, as she drove back to 222 E. Central Parkway before heading off to a 6 p.m. home visit. “Just like many other families, they’ve been affected by the layoffs and just cannot take in extra children right now. It’s hard because we have so many children coming into the agency’s care and we’re losing some great foster parents.”