FOSTER PARENTS SOUGHT; CHARITY BRINGS SICK KIDS TO U.S.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Volunteers with Healing the Children have a dilemma: The number of youngsters they want to help with medical treatment is unlimited, but the group's pool of state-licensed foster parents is small.

The Valencia-based charity, which for 19 years has been helping sick and disabled children receive the care they need, issued a plea Friday for local families to become certified foster parents.

Healing the Children regularly brings youngsters to the United States for free surgeries and other medical procedures that are unavailable in their home countries. While the youths are staying in the States, they must be hosted by a licensed foster family, said Cris Embleton, founder of Healing the Children.

If no foster family is available to take the child for the duration of his or her stay, then Healing the Children asks a parent to accompany the child, Embleton said. Often, however, that arrangement is more costly for the cash-strapped charity, which has to buy an extra airline ticket, she said.

Friday's appeal for foster families was prompted in part by hopes that Healing the Children can bring a 13-year-old girl from Guatemala City to undergo an operation at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Los Angeles.

Embleton said the girl, Ruth Armira, suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition commonly called brittle-bone disease. Healing the Children has arranged for a Shriners Hospital doctor to perform the surgery on Ruth in October.

``Her legs are twisted in such a way that it looks like somebody tried to tie a knot in her,'' Embleton said. The girl's father, whom Embleton met during a visit to Guatemala City, suffers from the same debilitating affliction.

``His eyes were just filled with joy that his daughter is not going to suffer like he has,'' she said.

The reason Healing the Children needs volunteer foster parents is that Ruth will have to be in the United States for about a year as she undergoes the corrective surgery and recovery. That's too long for the girl's parents to be away from their jobs and their other children, Embleton said.

``She will have to be in a body cast for six weeks,'' she added. ``If someone is willing to sacrifice those six weeks, she'll go home healthy.''

Despite her condition, Ruth is very mobile, independent and able to care for herself, Embleton said. Once the girl is out of her body cast, her foster parent wouldn't have to provide such an extended level of care.

Healing the Children also wants to fly twin girls from the former Soviet Union. Irina and Marina Shulyakova, 9-year-olds from Kazakhstan, suffer from a congenital heart defect that surgeons at another Los Angeles hospital have agreed to correct, Embleton said.

However, a foster family is needed to host the girls before they can be flown to the United States for the operation, she said.

For information about how to help or volunteer, call Healing the Children at [phone].

THE FACTS

There are several steps in applying for a state-issued foster parent license. The process can be completed in as little as 90 days.

Call the county's toll-free foster family recruitment hotline at [phone].

Attend an orientation meeting and fill out several state forms.

Get fingerprinted at your local police or sheriff's station.

Undergo a criminal record background check.

Undergo a minimal health exam and tuberculosis test.

Undergo several hours of training, including first aid and CPR.

Be visited at your home by inspectors for the foster parent program.

Source: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services