Leslie Kuntz of Youth Dynamics in Kalispell needs families willing to open their hearts and homes to children with emotional or behavior disorders.

“Neglected and abused children need homes and we need the communities to help,” she said.

Kuntz, licensing coordinator/trainer for therapeutic foster/adoptive parents, has scheduled an open house and informational session from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday featuring Fred Jenneskens, Western Region family resource specialist.

“He supervises the state foster care licensing and adoption process,”  Kuntz said. “It’s an open forum for prospective foster and adoptive parents.”

Because of the shortage of homes here, Flathead Valley children have been placed as far away as Missoula, disrupting their lives even further by removing them from the community. Kuntz hopes to remedy that with an outreach to members of the public to consider taking the 30 hours of training required to become a licensed therapeutic foster home.

Foster parents provide typical parental guidance while also serving on the child’s treatment team. They help the youth develop age-appropriate social and coping skills with direction and support from Youth Dynamics clinical staff.

According to licensed therapeutic foster parent Bob Avery, Youth Dynamics provides good support for people such as him and his wife, Deborah.

The Hardin couple have been licensed since 1998 and have worked for the last three years with Youth Dynamics.

“They’re an awesome agency,” he said. “When we got started, we had to figure out everything for ourselves. YDI made sure we knew they were there to support us.”

Avery said they have two grown biological children, three guardianship boys and two foster-care boys. He and his wife both work full time as personal care assistants for others while maintaining their foster home with help from many community resources.

Over the years, they have had temporary and long-term children in their care.

“We’ve had all kinds of behaviors,” he said. “One of our boys was not supposed to walk or talk and he just passed the eighth grade with honors.”

He said another of their boys wouldn’t speak or show any emotion but now shows emotion, hugs them and opens up to his counselor. Avery said these are the rewards people receive from therapeutic foster parenting.

Avery said no one should do this work for the financial compensation, which he said barely covers expenses.

“You have to do this for the love of kids or don’t do it,” he said. “You have to be patient and calm. You also have to learn to let go.”

Avery called his youths “awesome kids” who give him and his wife so many rewards on a daily basis.

“I have no regrets about doing this,” he said.

According to Kuntz, people of any age or marital status may become licensed. She said that includes single people and unmarried partners who have been together at least 24 months.

Senior citizens also are welcome.

“They need just an open mind and an open heart and to be willing to dedicate the time and energy to help an abused and neglected child,” she said.

Even disability doesn’t necessarily keep a person from licensing his or her home as a therapeutic foster home. Kuntz said the disabled person’s health just needs to be stable.

“They have to be able to take the children to therapy and meetings or someone in the household has to have a license,” she said.

 The qualifying process includes a background check as well as a financial review. While homes receive a tax-free $800 monthly stipend, families must show financial stability without consideration of the stipend.

 While Youth Dynamics works to keep families united, children become candidates for placement for a wide variety of reasons. Kuntz said a single parent may become overwhelmed with the stress of dealing with a child with an emotional disorder on top of parenting alone.

“Things sometimes spiral out of control,” she said.

Placements may be planned, as in cases of parents entering drug treatment, or they may appear at the drop of a hat when social services needs an immediate overnight intervention. Kuntz recalled one situation when three family members had a crisis at the same time and no Flathead homes were available, so the children had to go to Missoula.

The need for committed people such as Avery and his wife continues.

“We have kids waiting for placement or going into kinship homes that are inadequate,” Kuntz said. “Social Services keeps calling us but we’re just getting the program started and people trained.”

Through various means from classes to books and DVDs, foster parents learn how to address a large variety of problems such as oppositional defiant disorder, bipolar disorder, depression and reactive attachment disorder. Kuntz said she has held one other open house for foster parents.

“The first one had about 12 people come in,” she said.

The Thursday open house takes place at the Youth Dynamics offices at 450 Corporate Drive, Suite 105. Time spent at the session counts toward the 30 hours needed for licensing.

Kuntz said therapeutic parents become very committed and confident as they have success helping children with emotional disorders. She recalled a couple who adopted a child who had many heart surgeries.

They said it had taken so much love to keep the child alive — but they wanted to do it again for another one.

“They said, ‘We know how to love them through it now,’” Kuntz said. “It’s amazing what people look for instead of running from it.” 

For more information, call Youth Dynamics at 751-8021.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.