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John and Rhoda Bailey of Springtown retired in June.
Oh, he still works as superintendent of the Lakeside Utilities Department.
But they retired from being foster parents for the state of Texas. Don’t think they don’t still enjoy the pitter patter of little feet (although the 16-year-old bull rider in the family doesn’t exactly pitter-patter) because this “retired” couple has five adopted children remaining in their household, with a sixth in the process of being adopted. But they have provided foster care to as many as 170 kids over the past 17 years, so only six, with the youngest at age 3, will be a break of sorts. Rhoda has developed into a mentor for other foster parents, especially those who are inexperienced, and has traveled to Austin and Washington D.C. to advocate for foster and adoptive families.
She holds a statewide office in an organization for foster parents. “When Rhoda and I got married, she always said she wanted a big family,” John said. The couple had two children of their own before they began fostering – and they believe the entire family provides foster care, not just the parents. While John’s work provides a steady paycheck, Rhoda declines to call herself a “homemaker,” she said. “It’s not even homemaking,” she said. “Just the kids. “I couldn’t work full-time and do this.” Rhoda said she has driven a foster child to work at a local fast food chain at 4:30 in the morning in addition to the average chauffeuring parents do for kids too young to drive. In fact, raising foster kids is nothing like raising your own, the Baileys both said. “We each took 30 hours of training before we started (fostering),” Rhoda said. “And more training every year to keep up.” Foster parents have to know cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and basic first aid. They also received some medical training. They passed an FBI background check. Their home underwent regular health inspections during the 17 years they took in foster kids, and everybody got tested for tuberculosis. State inspectors showed up for scheduled inspections, but also came by several times each year unannounced, Rhoda said. “We kept our kids and the adopted kids in separate rooms because the inspectors went through their dresser drawers and closets,” Rhoda said. It was not unusual to have three different people go through the house in any given month. In the end, “they got more and more intrusive,” and the couple decided to give their adopted kids a more normal life. Their now-grown children, however, fully participated in fostering, Rhoda said. That family involvement is a key ingredient to successful fostering, both say. “Sometimes our daughter would notice kids at school (having problems) and would provide them with information about foster care,” Rhoda said proudly. “Our kids learned empathy and they learned that life could be worse than they had it,” she said. The couple moved to Springtown in the early 80s and gradually built their homey place on Goshen Road. You can tell it has been added on to (including an enclosed back porch that John said he built as the couple’s “sanctuary”), but the inside is filled with light, an open floor plan and attention to details that make it easier to keep neat and clean. The living area is tiled instead of carpeted, and Rhoda said that was important because often the foster children arrived with medical problems including severe asthma or allergies. John built the kitchen, with beadboard cabinet doors, according to his own plan – which Rhoda carefully described to him “when the time was right,” she said. John cheerfully admits that Rhoda is in charge. The couple has nothing but praise for the Springtown schools for their support and for providing a good education to the “big family” they raised together. And they believe the Parker County countryside has proven beneficial to the largely city kids they have fostered. “Our neighbor raises coon dogs,” John said with a chuckle. “Sometimes the kids would hear those dogs and think they were wolves.” The Goshen Road home sits on seven acres with dogs, cats, goats and any other critter a kid expresses interest in, John said. “This is perfect for city kids, who may be runaways,” he said. “We’ve got snakes and stickers.” All in all, the two don’t see how they could have done things any differently, John said. “We look back on it now and we think ‘isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?’” |
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