BUFFALO, N.Y. — Being a parent is tough. Life has many twists and turns and there are times when things go off the rails. 

"The biggest focus is finding homes for children," said Nicole Warner of Child & Family Services.

With decades of experience in the field, she spends each day taking care of routine and emergency welfare.

"So sometimes a child is removed and that same day we are looking to find a home for that child. There is an imminent need," she said. "They are not able to find any family members. So that obviously is a time where we just drop everything and work to call all of our families to see if they can take them."

Always looking for new foster families, the recruiting has been difficult to make the mission easier.

"Just the changes that we've seen in the world, more and more we find that both members of the household are having to work," Warner noted. "That obviously lends to challenges of just finding people with the overall availability as well as the challenges that come with overall working with the population, we see."

Adding to the uphill battles is the current opioid epidemic. According to the Child Welfare League of America, overdose death rates alone have created an almost 5% increase in foster needs, while hospitalizations still carry above 3%. Those numbers may seem small, but you figure that into more than 200,000 kids who enter foster care every year.

"It obviously leads to families just having more needs and not being able to care for the children the way that they can while they're going through those challenges," she said. "There's just so many systemic social, cultural and economic issues going on right now that it just continues to be challenging."

But it's not all a struggle. There are foster parents like Kyma Dickinson and Sheira Cordero.

"It goes back to the grandma," said Dickinson. "All my life she's had foster kids and I have several cousins that you cannot tell me are not my blood family."

They have some kids of their own, but have been active in helping several foster children have shelter and support.

"People think that, you know, foster care, like the kids, they stereotype the kids, too. X, Y, and Z," said Cordero. "These kids are absolutely amazing."

They hope that their fostering over the last couple of years and positive relationship with CFS will help others decide to take up the fostering mantle.

"God forbid, something happens to us, I would hope that, you know, if a family member couldn't take our child, that a good family will be there to to help out," added Dickinson.

Whether it's these foster parents or the agency, there's still a growing need that for those in the system is beyond rewarding.

"I experienced with my own eyes just seeing a lot of injustices as well as abuse," said Warner. "To know that I'm able to be a part of that village and the families that I work with and I'm able to support them throughout that process is really the most fulfilling feeling in the world."