密歇根新闻广播 密歇根有很多儿童等待着被收养

（单词翻译）

Michigan has a shortage. There are thousands of children who need foster families, but far fewer families willing to help.

Shereen Allen-Youngblood is a community outreach specialist at The Children’s Center in Wayne County. She recruits foster parents, and says many people who consider becoming foster parents think they may not be qualified¹, when that isn’t the case in reality.

“[Some people] feel like they have to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to be a foster parent and that’s not the case,” Allen-Youngblood said. “You only have to be 18 to be a foster parent. Even if you work at McDonald's you can be a foster parent as long as you’re willing to open up a safe and loving home.”

There’s roughly 13,000 foster kids without homes, 5,000 of whom are living in Wayne County. Allen-Youngblood says it would probably take “thousands” of new foster families to meet the demand.

Shauntay Frazier-Hall and her husband are foster parents. She says she decided² to become a foster parent after temporarily taking care of some of her friend's kids. Before she became a foster parent, Frazier-Hall says she had some of the same misconceptions about what it’s like to be a foster parent.

“I thought we needed to have lots of money and lots of space but that’s not the case,” Frazier-Hall said. “Once we started the process and the licensing³ agent came out, she told us how we would be a good fit for several children.”

Listen to the entire conversation with Shereen Allen-Youngblood, Community outreach specialist at The Children’s Center in Wayne County, and Shauntay Frazier-Hall, devoted⁴ foster parent, above.