By Julie Hood
At Lutheran Services Carolinas, we work with anyone who can provide a child with a loving and caring home.
Picture this: walking into a warm home after a day at school, you can smell the aroma of a home cooked meal, you chat about your day and after dinner with your family you find a safe place to lay your head. I think we can all agree that these are simple things every child deserves. Through no fault of their own, there are over 1,500 foster children in South Carolina waiting to be placed in homes where they can feel a sense of safety and stability.
At Lutheran Services Carolinas, we’ve worked in South Carolina for over 30 years to give foster children a loving home and have successfully placed thousands of children in foster homes. However, our ability to continue to serve foster children in need is directly supported by foster parents willing to open their homes and hearts, and the need for foster parents in South Carolina is pressing.
Foster parents come from all backgrounds and walks of life. They are retirees whose homes have become too quiet, individuals who have never been able to have families of their own, or parents looking to expand their homes and hearts to children in need. At Lutheran Services Carolinas, we work with anyone who can provide a child with a loving and caring home.
We understand how big of a decision it is to become a foster parent, which is why we provide our foster parents with the resources they need to provide the best experience to any child that enters their home, such as paid respite for therapeutic foster parents, a 24/7 phone line parents can call if an issue arises, and a dedicated case manager who can frequently checks in with the family to ensure both the child and parent have what they need. With this support, we aim to provide comfort to our foster parents knowing they have a full team backing them when they need it most.
This is Joselma (Josie) and Bethzaida (Betsy) Dos Santos-Guzman, two of our foster parents who are local to the Charleston area. After becoming empty-nesters Josie and Betsy felt a void in their home without the joy of a child around. After taking in a child who needed a home via kinship, they decided to embark on their foster care journey and become licensed via Lutheran Services Carolinas. Since then, they’ve welcomed foster children into their home, providing them with a safe and peaceful environment to decompress. Despite the challenges that come with being a foster parent, seeing a child learn and improve their communication and social skills is incredibly rewarding for Josie and Betsy. They currently have two foster children with them and while the girls are not related, Betsy and Josie say they have become like sisters.
“We became foster parents because we felt we had a calling. We’ve been able to give our foster kids not just a place to live, but a home.” - Josie and Betsy Dos Santos-Guzman
Located in the Upstate, Scott and Laura Ryan are two of our stellar foster parents. They have a blended family having six children—two biological sons and two adopted sons that they fostered in Missouri and adopted prior to moving to South Carolina. The Ryans were initially licensed with Lutheran Services Carolinas in 2021 as foster parents, and they have been fostering a sibling group of two boys since 2023.
“We love children and feel brokenhearted that when children need a safe place it isn’t available. We have been blessed beyond measure and feel it is our responsibility to share with children who need a home.” - Scott and Laura Ryan
Our goal is to provide as many children as possible in need with loving homes.
Fostering has as much of an impact on the child as it does the parents. Regardless of the difficulties that come with being a foster parent we hear time and time again how incredibly rewarding the process is. Our foster parents impart essential life skills to their foster children and provide them with a positive role model which has a lasting impact on their future.
Our goal is to provide as many children as possible in need with loving homes. That said, we do have basic requirements for our foster parents, as set by the Department of Social Services and the state. Those requirements include: the ability to provide a healthy, loving, and nurturing home to a child; being based in South Carolina; being at least 25 years old; having stable and verifiable source of income; renting or owning your own home; the ability to complete an extensive background check.
We’re fortunate to have a handful of foster homes in the Lowcountry area but are looking to this strong community to help us fill the current gap for foster parents. If you feel called, or would simply like to learn more, please reach out. You can get in touch with us athttps://lscarolinas.net/child-programs/#intro.
Lutheran Services Carolinas is a nonprofit health and human services organization providing skilled nursing care, rehabilitation, assisted living, adult day services, and retirement options to seniors in North Carolina; foster care, adoption, mental health services, refugee resettlement services, disaster response, and residential care for people with disabilities in both North Carolina and South Carolina; and recovery services in South Carolina.
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