The most vulnerable children in Schuylkill County are in dire need of stable, caring and strong families to help them weather the storms of troubled lives.

In an effort to help provide that shelter, the county will reach out to prospective foster parents through church bulletins.

County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $1,872 agreement with Bon Venture Services LLC in Flanders, New Jersey for local, weekly church-bulletin advertising related to the county’s ongoing foster recruitment campaign.

The agreement runs from May 1 through April 30, 2024.

The county currently has about 50 foster families, 20 of which are outside the county, according to Amanda L. Kowalski, who is the foster care coordinator for the Children and Youth Services Agency.

The agency has been endeavoring to find more foster families to care for increased number of children through a recruitment campaign, said Carl D. Rumbel, the agency contracts manager.

“We started with a billboard in South Tamaqua in May 2021. We’ve been running monthly ads in Schuylkill Plus! magazine since July 2021,” he said outside the meeting.

Shamrock Digital Group has been working with the agency since March 2022, he said.

Those efforts resulted in newspaper advertising, “targeted Google search results and social media advertising, and another billboard by Orwigsburg,” Rumbel said.

Since last October, the agency also has been running local television ads.

The church bulletin notices approved Wednesday are for “recurring church bulletin ad space at three local churches, and we’ve also had here and there ads in local high school and community theater production programs,” he said.

In addition to getting the word out, the agency is enhancing help for foster families.

In July 2021, Children and Youth Services “adjusted our foster parent maintenance payments to reflect increased costs for food and clothing since our last such adjustment,” Rumbel said.

“We’re also enhancing the supports and training resources available to our foster homes. Through partnership with COBYS Family Services, all Schuylkill County foster parents are now eligible for certification in Trust-Based Relational Intervention caregiver training,” he said.

“Developed by the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, this is an evidence-based curriculum focused on the impact of trauma and intended to help caregivers develop insight, learn practical interventions, and enhance understanding about how to interpret behaviors and respond appropriately.”

“This curriculum is now an option for satisfying annual training requirements. Also with help from COBYS, a twice-weekly, facilitated, virtual support group is now available to relative caregivers in Schuylkill County,” Rumbel said.

“A discussion topic is listed for each session, but participants are welcome to bring up any difficulty they may be experiencing, and find support from others who may be in similar shoes. This also helps satisfy annual training requirements,” he said.