Foster dad among CPS’ quiet heroes
Published: February 13, 2005
The system may be under fire, but there are untold successes, too.
Rob Rodriguez’s hands are full, but his heart, and his house, have extra room.
The 36-year-old single father cares for his adopted son and two foster children while working a full-time job and running a nonprofit agency.
He keeps an extra bunk bed in his three-bedroom rental home in case state child-welfare officials need him to take in more children.
Amid the recent attention to Child Protective Services in Texas, including alleged abuse in some foster care group homes, the stories about foster parents such as Rodriguez sometimes aren’t told. But these foster parents provide loving homes for abused and neglected children, along with a sense of security and stability.
“Although it’s extremely challenging, it’s extremely rewarding, and that’s what I want people to understand,” Rodriguez said.
Texas lawmakers are reviewing the state’s foster care system as part of changes to the embattled Child Protective Services agency, which came under scrutiny after several children from homes investigated by the state died from abuse or neglect.
In a report last year, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said some foster children have been moved 30 or 40 times and endured sexual, physical and emotional abuse, and sometimes death, in the system. Most of the abuse occurred in residential group homes, Strayhorn said, not with individual foster families, where most foster children live.
Many children, few families
The demand for foster families is greater than the supply. Texas has about 17,200 children in foster care and only 8,081 single-family homes to place them in.
Tracey Eilers, executive director of the Adoption Coalition of Texas, helps find families for children in Central Texas. She said the foster parents her group works with are wonderful, and she wished there were more people out there like Rodriguez.
“He’s really gung-ho,” Eilers said. He “has dedicated himself to helping these kids.”
Raised in a family with nine kids, Rodriguez always wanted children. A physical education assistant at Hernandez Intermediate School, Rodriguez decided five years ago to adopt his now-12-year-old son. Aaron had been living in foster homes because his mother was terminally ill and there was domestic violence in his home.
In September 2003, Rodriguez took in two brothers, 10 and 11, who were in foster care because of neglect. They returned to their mother about nine months later, and the day they left was difficult for everyone, Rodriguez said. The boys were part of the family, and they were sad about leaving, he said. Rodriguez and Aaron keep in touch with them.
Rodriguez soon took in two more brothers, 6 and 8. He would not discuss the reason they are in foster care. The boys have lived with Rodriguez and Aaron for nearly a year and are considered family. Their lives are routine: school and work during the day, playtime and homework at night.
‘A structured environment’
He admits he expects a lot from his children. Each child washes his own dishes after dinner, knows how to do his own laundry and must follow family rules. One child was punished recently for leaving his bicycle overnight on the porch, breaking a rule that was imposed after another bike was stolen.
“My philosophy is that they need to be in a structured environment,” Rodriguez said. “They came from an unstructured environment.”
But he also leaves room for fun.
On a recent day, Rodriguez sat on his porch, trying to fix a loose chain on one of the bikes, as the youngsters played nearby on bikes, a scooter and a skateboard.
“He lets us play video games,” the 8-year-old said. Rodriguez said the boys aren’t allowed to play violent games.
On a tour of the house, the 6-year-old proudly showed off his blue lava lamp next to his bunk bed. Another set of bunk beds for future foster children is set up in the same room, which is decorated with a Spider Man poster, a San Antonio Spurs NBA Championship pennant and trophies on the bookshelf.
Rodriguez said he took his first set of foster children to Denver and to Walt Disney World in Florida, and he hopes to take his current foster family to Washington, D.C., in the summer.
The trips give the children an opportunity to see places they have never seen before, Rodriguez said.
On a budget
The $40 a day he gets from the state to care for the two children is helpful, he said, because his bills increase with each additional flush or shower. Rodriguez makes $12,000 a year and says he earns extra money through his nonprofit, ECafe, which stands for Empowering Children and Families Everywhere, and by teaching parenting classes for CPS.
Being thrifty helps him get by, said Rodriguez, who shops off-season for clothes, clips coupons and goes to restaurants that offer 2-for-1 meals. “When we want to do something else that is bigger, we have the money for it,” he said.
Rodriguez admits the children he’s cared for have threatened suicide, thrown rocks at his car and broken things in the house. But after a few months, the children adjusted to their new home and began to make breakthroughs, he said. Rodriguez recalled the first time one of his foster children told him he loved him.
“He did it from another room. He said it real quick. I told him really quick that I loved him, too, and we went about our business,” Rodriguez said.
“At the hardest times, there aren’t warm fuzzy feelings. There are terrible feelings that no one wants to feel. Then, it’s just so great to see that one glimmer of hope that they will be OK, eventually.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: