HAWTHORN WOOD, Ill. - Susan Vrenios held the boy, under six months old, in his arms as the child cooled and his big smile dissolved.
During a nearly 30-year period as a nursing father, Vrenios has become a professional for infants and children in state care. Vrenios and her husband, Tom, have so far touched the lives of 132 children, including two sons who took the couple to their own family.
"We could not keep them all," said Vrenios, 53, laughing. "They do not manufacture cars for 132 children."
Over the past ten years, Vrenios and her husband have worked with UCAN, one of 70 social service agencies working with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services that are vulnerable to children.
"Caregivers like Vrenios provide stable and nurturing care to young people whose world has done destroyed by loss, exploitation or neglect and whose families could not care for it," said Derrick Baker, vice president, marketing communications for UCAN.
According to DCFS statistics, as of July, 13,953 children were in relative care or care, in institutional homes or group homes after removal for abuse or neglect. DCFS allows nursing homes and private agencies like UCAN to authorize their own nursing homes.
UCAN is based in the community of North Lawndale in Chicago and has additional offices in Chicago as well as Vernon Hills, Baker said. UCAN currently has about 170 nursing homes, Baker said. About 65 of them put in Lake and McHenry counties, and the agency is still looking for more adoptive parents, he said.
Elderly parents receive a state grant to help teens in their homes, ranging from $ 500 to $ 2,200 depending on the requirements of each child, Baker said.
"It's important that you care about kids," said Nancy Hencier, who comes from the UCAN Vernon Hills office.
Hencier said it took four to six months to become a registered nursing parent, and candidates must undergo a background check and fingerprint.
"I'm always looking for nurses, and as soon as we have a child, we need another parent," he said.
Today, UCAN serves about 10,000 children, youth and vulnerable families in Illinois. They offer more than 30 programs to prevent violence, help children get out of the system, manage independent living, develop the workforce, support pregnant teenagers, youth leadership courses, and nursing.
The agency tries to help adolescents affected by their therapeutic youth and run a K-12 day school. Clinical and counseling services, as well as regular medical questions, are offered.
"UCAN President and CEO Zack Schrantz said in a statement on Cook, Lake and McHenry's Professional Financing Program.Whether our youth, nursing or traditional nursing program, UCAN has a solid track record
"We know that sometimes family dynamics can change with the addition of a new person in the home, some young people may have physical, mental or developmental problems that a family is not prepared to handle," added Schrantz. almost seven years, a concerned father.
UCAN employees provide Vrenios and other nurses with services and support to help them help teens as their families work to overcome the circumstances that led them to last-placed outside their homes, baker.
That day, Vrenios is in Vernon Hills because one of the babies she cares for has a date to spend time with a parent. Meanwhile, Vrenios, the other child takes the doctor for a checkup.