Foster families are starting to become more interested in taking children in as COVID-19 restrictions are lifting.
Progressive Life Center, a foster care provider in York County, said this is a huge contrast to the start of the pandemic.
"We recently had three families come out," said Kelly Taylor, lead foster care case manager at Progressive Life Center. "In the beginning, we really didn't have anyone that was willing to open their homes at the time, slowly as things are letting up a little more, they're coming out a little more," said Taylor.
There are more than 400,000 children in foster care, according to The United States Children's Bureau under the United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.
Progressive Life Center is looking to recruit, train and license foster parents who are willing to provide support for children and teenagers who are in foster care.
The director of Progressive Life Center, Dr. Rosalind Lee, said families were very hesitant to take in kids because of the fear of catching the coronavirus.
"When you think about the pandemic and having people that you do not know kind of come in and out of your life and that type of exposure a lot of times had people cautious," said Lee.
With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming more widely distributed, the center believes this had to lead to an increase in families taking in children.
"Fostering is a very valuable job," said Lee. "It's a job trying to make sure children get the minimal things that they need and then the maximum things that they need. That they're exposed, that they're in eco-building activities, that they look good, that they feel good," said Lee.
See the YouTube Video below for Dr. Rosalind Lee's qualifications to become a foster parent under Progressive Life Center.