HIGH POINT, N.C. — Almost 10,500 children 17 and younger are in foster care daily in North Carolina. If you include 18 to 21-year-olds, it’s closer to 11,500, as of Nov. 30, 2023, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Jordan Institute for Families website.

Corleener Comer has been welcoming foster care children into her home for the past 20 years. 

“I wanted to be a foster parent because I like kids. And I was wanting to just help children out. I just do my part because they need people to watch them and that love kids. And I’m here to help them and love them until they get ready to go back home or whatever the transition they have to do. After a certain time, they have to stay with me,” Comer said. 

She has always been taking care of others, helping raise her eight siblings after her mom passed away unexpectedly years ago, when she was in her early 20s. 

“I figured, that’s what really made me want to get into it because there’s these kids was out there. I didn’t need help. And if I can do it with my own, then I can do it with somebody else’s. It’s just the love in me,” Comer said. 

Comer has two biological children of her own and throughout the years she has fostered close to 100 kids. She adopted four children to her family. 

“They came up for adoption and I didn’t want to let them go because I had them and raised them and all,” Comer said. 

She has helped support newborns through 17-year-olds. Some who even stay in contact several years later, with some still calling her ‘Mom’. 

“Oh, I was excited. I was excited,” Comer said when describing how she felt after the adoptions went through. 

Although, not all parents want to give the child up, leading to long court proceedings. 

“It’s hard when the parents don’t want to give up their parental rights because the kids need somebody to take care of them. And they want to leave it alone and lingering on mean sometimes it takes about five, six years if another foster parent have them and they don’t relinquish. And then sometimes the court go ahead, don’t decide to go in. It’s time to stop it. And they would they would terminate the parental rights,” Comer said. 

Comer has seen an increase of children coming and going through her home. With on average fostering four children at a time and in the past month rotating in two new children a week. 

“They just go through the system until they age out and then they don’t have anybody behind them to show them what life feels, and for the love,” Comer said. 

There has been a decrease of almost 1,000 foster homes in North Carolina since 2019. Which, according to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is related to families retiring out of the system, adopting, medical concerns that prevent the family from continuing to foster and lasting COVID impacts that affected the ability to license new foster homes.

That consists of delays in finger printing appointments for clearance, fire inspection appointments and pre-service training adapted to online formats. 

“The ones that got a heart and they think they want to do it but don’t know how to do it, just contact a social worker … and they’ll come out and talk to you and assist you,” Comer said. 

The retired mom says if she knew she could, she would have adopted all of her siblings, and will continue to foster for as long as she can. 

NCDHHS says they are also looking for placements of large sibling groups, older youth, and recruitment and support of kinship placement. 

Because of new laws, foster care board rate monthly stipends have also increased. 

For information on how to become a foster parent or other ways to get involved, you can find resources through NCDHHS’ Child Services.