Norwood News

“It is so exciting!” squeals Sying, a 7-year-old foster child, upon receiving a brand new backpack from Abbott House, a care provider for foster and adopted children. “I love it,” Sying beams.

On the afternoon of Aug. 31, a little more than a week before school started, Sying and her four foster siblings each received one of 400 new backpacks given away at the Abbott House’s Bronx Family Service office on Jerome Avenue, courtesy of “Friends and Family United.”

“This saved me from buying a backpack,” said Meva Newbold, an adoptive and foster parent who has been involved with Abbott House for over five years. “It has been a big help.”

Dr. Luis Rodriguez, the senior vice president of Abbot House, explained that the families of the 600 foster and adopted children “need as much support as possible.” Most Abbott House parents take in as many children as they can support from the ages of zero to 21, which often means caring for four or more children at a time.

With new abandoned and neglected children coming to Abbott House daily, foster parents are always in demand. “It is very difficult to find foster parents,” said Rodriguez. “Many children have major emotional disturbances.”

Schooling is another problem. “Most children are learning disabled because of a lack of stimulation or schooling,” Rodriguez said.
Abbott House strives to remedy these problems. Abbott House offers services such as “Therapeutic Foster Boarding Homes,” which provide “emotional therapy and behavior management at home,” said Rodriguez.

Abbott House also provides tutorial services to any child two years behind in school, according to Rodriguez. Many foster homes also have a “traveling tutor,” who visits a variety of homes and helps children with their schoolwork.

The extra help is working. “We have quite a few children that have completed college and a few who have service jobs in the military,” said Gregory Angelo, a Public Relations Coordinator for Abbott House.

However, many children do not have to stay in foster care after their high school years because the main goal of Abbott House “is to return the children back to their family,” Rodriguez said. In 2008, 96 percent of children were returned to their families, according to an Abbott House annual report.

When children cannot return to their biological family, Abbott House encourages parents to adopt their foster children. Meva Newbold is one of these parents. She adopted her daughter, Natasha, this April after caring for her for five years in foster care.

“I went in [to Abbott House] to adopt,” explained Newbold. Now, Newbold and Natasha are a happy family. “I have lots of fun with my mom,” said Natasha.

With the school year about to start, Natasha is excited to return to MS 180 for 7th grade with her new backpack. “My favorite classes are art, vocals, film and computers,” Natasha said.

Passing by a grinning Natasha, another parent, Alicia McCollum, collected backpacks for her five foster children. “This is a beautiful thing they [Abbott House] are doing for the kids,” she said. “They do a lot of stuff for the kids to make them this happy.”