美国国家公共电台 NPR On The Navajo Nation, Foster Care Families Are In Short Supply

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Navajo Nation is struggling with a problem. And here are two numbers that put it into perspective. Twelve hundred Navajo kids cycle through foster care each year, and there are only about two dozen licensed² foster homes on the reservation. Laurel Morales of member station KJZZ reports.

LAUREL MORALES, BYLINE³: When her doorbell rings at 2 a.m, Vallis Martinez isn't as worried as you may think. It happens all the time. She opens the door and welcomes the child - no bag, no toothbrush, just the clothes on his back and a sad story. Mom or Dad were driving drunk. Parents were cooking meth or hurting each other.

VALLIS MARTINEZ: They're scared. Some are in tears screaming, no, take me home.

MORALES: But Martinez opens her arms.

MARTINEZ: I say, I'm here. There's a roof here - a warm place to sleep. Let Mom settle down - Dad settle down.

MORALES: Martinez has had as many as 16 foster children at one time in her tiny home. When the children arrive, they don't want to talk. But she shares with them her own story of abuse, and they usually open up.

MARTINEZ: I had a foster child that came came back and said that, auntie, all the clothes you bought me, my mom burnt it. She came back with rags.

MORALES: How do all these stories not break your heart?

MARTINEZ: It's where you have to make yourself strong - not to wipe your tears in front of them.

ELSIE ELTHIE: There's so many kids, and the system cannot keep up.

MORALES: Elsie Elthie is a foster home licensing⁴ specialist on the Navajo Nation.

ELTHIE: It used to be just alcohol. And then about 15 years ago, I started hearing about meth. And that has completely destroyed families.

MORALES: Elthie has the giant task of finding a safe home for those kids. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act requires Elthie to place children first with family members. If she can't find one, then she takes them to a Navajo foster family. If those homes are at capacity, then she can take kids to non-Navajo families off the reservation.

ELTHIE: We just basically need more homes. And we need support to license¹ these homes because the licensing procedure is lengthy⁵.

MORALES: Part of the problem with recruiting is funding. Last year, the tribe didn't receive federal funds for three months because of budget cuts to Health and Human Services. So foster parents had to dig in their own pockets to buy food and pay for gas. Elthie also asked for private donations.

ELTHIE: I need some food for my families. They need clothing. You know, can you help pay for their electric bill?

MORALES: The reason Elthie does what she does is she was once a foster kid herself. She knows how severe the need is.

ELTHIE: We use the concept of k'e. Even though they're not my blood relatives, I'm gonna treat them like they are my family.

MORALES: Foster mom Vallis Martinez lives by the same belief, and it's one she's helping⁶ her boyfriend Ronald Joe come to understand. Joe is new to foster care. He says when they first went out to a Navajo song and dance, he was caught up with what everyone else thought of him with all these kids.

RONALD JOE: And I was just shaking. And we sat down. I told her people are staring at us.

(LAUGHTER)

JOE: Today, she told me don't mind them.

MORALES: In fact, whenever they're out, Martinez seizes the opportunity to recruit other parents to foster children. It's a hard sell because it takes an emotional toll⁷. Joe has learned that the hard way. He helped Martinez with an infant - taught him to sit up, crawl. And just when he had learned to walk, the caseworker took him back to his family.

JOE: Man, I went down the train. It was very hard. It was - sometimes I dream of him.

MORALES: Being a foster parent is a difficult role, but it's also an important one and one the Navajo Nation needs more people, like Joe and Martinez, willing to take on. For NPR News, I'm Laurel Morales in Flagstaff.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUMMER HEART SONG, "I WANTED YOU TO STAY ON THE OTHER SIDE")

1 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

2 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

5 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。