COUPLE OPEN HEARTS AND HOME TO KIDS FOSTER CHILDREN WITH AILMENTS JOIN VERY SPECIAL FAMILY.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

CASTAIC - Three-year-old Aaron ``Funky'' Young carefully negotiated the staircase in his Castaic home and asked the question that broke his new mother's heart.

``Is James here?'' he asked, his look of bewilderment partly concealed by his bright smile.

``James isn't here; he's with Jesus,'' answered Lori Young, 42, who is seeking Aaron's adoption. She shook her head slightly.

``That question is practically the first thing out of his mouth every morning,'' she said.

The youngster was looking for his ``brother,'' James Harlan Young, who died May 11 of a heart ailment at age 10.

James was among the dozens of foster children - many with medical problems or developmental disabilities - Lori has taken in over the years.

Now she and Fred Young, her husband of two years, have a special family.

Three children they expect to adopt soon, a 25-year-old who Lori took in years ago, Lori's two biological sons and Fred's two sons make up the squares of an incredible family quilt.

And although they grieve for James, they are thankful for their short time with him, and have no regret for acting as parents to the sickly child doctors predicted would die years earlier.

``I received more from him than he ever could have received from me,'' Lori Young said.

Aaron, too, was a sick 9-month-old when the Youngs brought him home. He had been diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia, fetal alcohol syndrome and failure to thrive when Lori took custody of the 11-pound baby.

``I fed him in my bedroom with no one else there and he ate,'' she said. ``We did that every three hours, like he was a newborn, and he came out of it. Now he eats everything.''

When Lori found that Aaron had an 8-year-old sister, Trisha, she brought the little girl home, too. Both are being adopted by the Youngs.

And then there was James.

His death rocked the family because he seemed to be doing well. On May 11, Lori was walking with the boy to a school book fair when he complained of being tired. She thought he might be coming down with a cold.

Lori asked James to wait with a sibling while she continued on to the school. She returned 15 minutes later and mother and children headed home. But James, huffing and puffing, couldn't walk any more so Lori went home and got her car.

When they got home, James collapsed on the living room floor.

``I said, 'James!' '' she said. ``He said, 'What?' and then he died. We were thankful he didn't linger or suffer more than he needed to.''

Since 1988, Lori Young has taken care of about 50 foster children. She would have taken more children into her home, but the maximum allowed by the Department of Children and Family Services is six in a home.

The Youngs had six, including James and Fred Young's two sons, 15-year- old Sam and 17-year-old Jesse.

Lori also has two biological sons who no longer live at home - David Foley, 22, and his 19-year-old brother, Adam.

Also grown now is Dali Holman, 25, a foster child who was cared for by Lori from the time she was a young girl.

Fred and Lori's union was bittersweet. She was divorced and best friends with Fred's wife, Lydia, who died of cancer in 1991. About seven years later, the two began dating and on Tuesday, they will celebrate their second anniversary.

Fred Young, 48, a superintendent of solid resources for the city of Los Angeles, knew exactly what he was getting into when he married Lori, a nurse who works caring for developmentally disabled adults.

He knew Lori came with a handful of children who needed special care.

``I've always loved children,'' he said as Aaron climbed on his knee.

Fred wrapped his arms around the child and looked at Lori. ``She just has this huge heart and I think she feels a need to reach out and help.''

``A lot of people think about taking children in and won't take that next step and do it,'' Lori said.

``But it's an extremely wonderful thing if you just take the step and do it,'' her husband said.

When Lori Young took in 2-year-old James, he knew little of life beyond his hospital bed.

He had been in a foster home, where he had been left alone in a crib with a teddy bear so long that he had a ball of teddy bear fur in his stomach and doctors had to perform surgery to remove it, Lori said.

James had heart problems, spinal curvature and had to be fed through a tube doctors had inserted into his stomach. In addition, he was depressed and wouldn't walk.

Lori took him home in June, and by Christmas, he was on his feet.

In his memory, a fund is planned for families who take in ill children, the Rev. Tom Givens said during James' funeral at Grace Baptist Church in Saugus.

While the family is still coping with James' death, Lori said, they are comforted knowing he longer suffers.

``We're still in the throes of all of this, but we know James is in a better place,'' she said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Fred and Lori Young cuddle with their about-to-be-adopted children, from left, Aaron, Trisha and Cheyenne. The family lost a son, James, earlier this month, of a severe heart ailment.

(2 -- color in SAC edition only) Nurse Lori Young talks with foster daughter Cheyenne after coming home from caring for adults with developmental disabilities. Lori often brings home children with medical problems.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer