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When that didn’t work, she ran.
“I wasn’t going to school. I was running. I was drinking, and I was doing drugs,” said Carter, now 27. “I didn’t want to go back to my house.”
Her first foster home placement came at age 12.
She remained “in the system” until she was of legal age to leave, living with just two families.
Carter credits the unconditional love the foster families shared with her, along with a 15-month stint at a teen challenge academy, for teaching — and allowing — her to heal.
“I definitely just wanted that sense of belonging,” she said. “It was just awesome for both homes to open that up to me.”
Carter left the foster care system knowing she wanted to give back some day.
“I want the same thing for other young girls. I want to be able to help bring them a sense of love and healing,” she said.
Carter and her husband of eight years, 28-year-old Shandon Carter, welcomed their first foster child four years ago.
They have the room in their white, two-story home on the edge of town, and Jana has the time as a stay-at-home mom.
Now living at the house are the Carter’s biological kids, Jamison, 8, and Journie, 5; and five foster children — Jarrell, 5, Beabea, 3, Miracle, 2, and twins Darnell and Derrell, 10 months — who are all siblings.
Days can get a little hectic — the family requires a small yellow school bus for transportation — but Carter said she loves having lots of kids around. “I wish we could have a dozen,” she said.
She eventually would like to work with teen girls but will continue to keep the doors open to “whoever God feels” needs their home and attention.
Types of foster care
La Crosse County has about 100 licensed foster homes, but more are always needed to provide emergency, specialized and other forms of foster care, said Keith Keller, who supervises the county’s program.
“There are ongoing needs because people come and go into foster care,” Keller said.
Emergency foster homes are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for after-hours placement through child protective services. When a child needs to be removed from a home, emergency foster homes receive the call, Keller said.
Traditional foster homes provide services to the kids and work with parents, social workers and others.
Concurrent planning homes, such as the Carters, do traditional foster care but are willing to adopt children unable to return to their parents because of a rights termination.
Foster care adoption is great for the kids and families, Keller said, but it can be tough on the system. Foster families are allowed to have a maximum of eight children in their house, so the county has lost about 25 homes that “adopted themselves out of business” in the past five or six years, she said.
Specialized foster homes accept children with moderate or intense special needs that are behavioral, emotional, or related to their physical or personal care.
Reimbursement ranges from $333 to $2,000 a month per child, depending on age and amount of care required.
“With all situations, our primary goal is to work on the situation and get the kids back to their family,” Keller said. It can take anywhere from three months to two years, “but the county is always trying to get those children back home.”
A girl transitions
Carter didn’t want to get married or have a family when she was young.
She was worried, she said, about “screwing up” someone else’s life.
But through her foster parents’ guidance, the academy and a youth mission trip to Guatemala, Carter developed a desire to want to help children and improve their lives.
She was candid with Shandon about that goal, and they started the mission together after their children were born.
“They will challenge you. These kids are not being raised like your kids are being raised,” Carter said. “They will test you ... to see if you are going to give up on them, too. It doesn’t matter the age — I went through it with my parents, too.”
Carter remains in contact with both foster families she lived with as a teen. She is her foster sister’s birth coach.
Who can foster
La Crosse County needs families or individuals for foster care who are patient and willing to learn and work with other professionals as well as the birth family, Keller said.
They also need to be non-judgmental and possess good communication and solid parenting skills, he said.
Some foster parents want infants and toddlers, while others prefer teens.
Foster parents are interviewed during the licensing process to find out about their parenting and what motivates them, Keller said. A criminal background check is done as well.
“By the time the study is done, we have a good picture,” he said.
There isn’t a cost to gaining a foster care license, but people who have a private well need to have their water tested before their home can be certified, Keller said.
Foster parents receive nine hours of training before their first placement and are required to take an additional 30 hours during the first two years, Keller said.
Licenses are renewed every two years, and eight hours of additional training is required annually.
Foster parents can say whether a child is a good match for their home before the initial placement is made, and they can tell the county when a situation isn’t right, Keller said. A 30-day notice is requested for “thoughtful removal.” However, sometimes emergency transitions are required.
Keller estimated the number of kids in La Crosse County foster care fluctuates between 85 and 150 a month.
It reached a high near 145 kids a few years ago after a number of drug busts, he said, but that seems to have settled.
Each home is provided regular training opportunities and assigned a social worker for ongoing support.
One big family
The kids interacted like family during a recent afternoon at the Carter house, asking Jana Carter oodles of questions.
“Can we have a snack?”
“Where are the cookies?”
“Why does he have my book?”
“Where is she going?”
The mother of seven responded to each question, satisfying curious minds.
A creaky screen door swung constantly as Jamison, Journie and Jarrell ran in and out to play in the country-size lot.
The kids had cornered a grasshopper alongside the garage and — unfortunately for the bug — were searching for a bucket to put it in.
Beabea and Miracle chased one another around the table, attempting to hold the cookie box, and Darnell and Derrell took turns babbling and smiling at the ruckus created by their brothers and sisters and foster siblings.
“I think it would be boring if we went back to being a family of four,” Carter said. “There is always something going on. There is always someone to play with.”
By the numbers
The number of children in family foster care, treatment foster care, group homes and residential care centers on Dec. 31, 2006:
Crawford County, 20
Jackson County, 20
La Crosse County, 153
Monroe County, 31
Trempealeau County, 15
Vernon County, 22
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
