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Heroin epidemic impacting foster care system

Posted at 5:28 PM, Jul 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-28 23:00:48-04

The foster care system is reaching capacity in the Tampa Bay area.

The Safe Children Coalition organization is actively recruiting families to become foster parents. 

Brena Slater is Vice President of the group.  She said they’ve seen a 120% increase in removals.

"We used to take in about thirty children a month we recently had several months where we took in about a hundred children,” Slater said.

She said most people can become foster care parents.  You need to be over 21 years old and have no criminal record.

Many of the kids who end up in the foster care system are children of drug addicts.  Katherine Mullins’ two children are currently in the foster care system, because of her previous drug addiction.

"I used anything with opioids, even heroin,” said Mullins. She is clean now and working to get her children back.

If you are interested in becoming a foster parent call 941-371-4799.