An hourlong feature on Houston’s public radio station last week put a spotlight on the ways that DePelchin serves children and families through foster care and adoption.
Arnold Valdez, DePelchin’s Vice President for Foster Care and Residential Services, was a featured guest on Townsquare, an afternoon radio show and podcast on Houston Public Media hosted by Ernie Manouse. The conversation explained the process of becoming a foster parent and how fostering is often a prelude to adoption. Guests, including family law and adoption attorney Rodney Jones, also emphasized the importance of working with an established, reputable agency such as DePelchin, which has been in operation for 130 years.
Valdez explained how DePelchin staff work to find the right home for each child, and that most adoptions come through foster care or kinship care, which is a type of foster care in which a relative cares for the child.
“No matter how you’re adopting, the process needs to be about the child and less about you,” he said. “It can’t be about getting the family’s needs met. It’s got to be about meeting the needs of the child, and in that process, the family’s needs will be met.”
The show also touched on the fact that there are not currently enough foster homes in Texas for children who need them, and that older children and sibling groups tend to stay in foster care for longer periods of time. Valdez emphasized that DePelchin works with a variety of families — single adults and couples — to find the right home for children.
“We have all different kinds of families,” he said.
The audio of the hourlong interview is available here.
For more information about becoming a foster or adoptive parent through DePelchin, including details about upcoming informational orientations, please visit this page.
