Same-sex couple fights to get Jefferson County foster children returned to their home Jesse Bogan
Dec 24, 2022
St. Louis Post-DispatchST. LOUIS — Last spring, a few weeks before Easter, authorities removed three siblings from a Jefferson County home for allegations of abuse or neglect. They were hungry, needed a foster home fast. Erica Marks and her wife, Melissa Yearian, of St. Louis, got the call. On a moment’s notice, they agreed to help.
It was a tough assignment from the start. The children — ages 14 months, 2, and 7 — had extensive needs.
Marks and Yearian aren’t typical foster parents, though. Both are child therapists. Yearian had even previously been a state-contracted caseworker in the foster care system, as well as a supervisor of court-appointed child advocates.
They said they did their best to provide a nurturing home. ...
On Nov. 2, Samantha Richards, a supervisor at Family Forward, a state-contracted agency that does foster care case management, notified them that the children would be removed in two weeks. According to a copy of the letter, the new foster home would be closer to the biological parents and “can provide care to all three children.”
What’s more, the letter said the children were being removed for a bunch of “competencies not being met,” regarding: meeting children’s developmental needs, supporting relationships between the children and birth families, and working as a member of a professional team. ...
In other words, they weren't very good foster parents. Yet they seem to believe they have some right to these children to whom they aren't even related.
I can't even ...
