“Normal” to Schmidt is caring for six, sometimes seven or eight children at a time.
Normal is washing three loads of laundry every day, including Sundays. Normal is going through a gallon of milk every day, a box and a half of cereal at breakfast, 10 pounds of potatoes and 5 pounds of hamburger at dinner.
If there is a mother who deserves a break this Mother's Day, it's Schmidt. But it's not a job that she can, or would ever call in sick to. Schmidt has dedicated her life to kids, and not just her own.
“I sometimes forget that other people aren't used to this,” Schmidt said. “But this is my calling in life - to be a mom.”
May is Foster Care Awareness Month, a time to celebrate those families that open their homes to abused and neglected children. Schmidt and her husband Steve are one of about 50 active foster parents in Missoula and Mineral counties.
In January 2007, there were 162 kids in foster care in Montana's western region, which includes Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Sanders and Ravalli counties. Children in need of a safe environment normally outweigh the number of foster homes, especially for teens and multiple siblings.
For the past 13 years, the Schmidts have welcomed 26 foster children into their home. Four never left.
The Schmidts have two biological sons, three adopted foster boys and one adopted foster girl, bringing the total number of kids to six. They range in age from 6 to 21. That's not counting the continuous cycle of foster children who come to stay on a temporary basis.
On a sunny Thursday afternoon, the Schmidt home in Target Range is full of children.
Two lounge on the couch. Two play on the swing set. Two try to free a kite that got wrapped around the trampoline, and an infant sings in the arms of Steve.
For the most part, everyone is happy. There are a lot of jokes. A lot of smiles.
But foster care is not all fun and games.
It means receiving a child that's been beaten black-and-blue. It means caring for severely disabled infants. Handing a foster baby back to its birth parents after having cared for it for more than a year is “like giving away your birth child,” Schmidt said.
Handling these hardships with grace and ease for as long as the Schmidts have is why the state named them the 2008 Resource Parents of Year. The statewide award goes to a family who has shown exceptional care and works well with birth families, said Loretta Rotellini, a family resource specialist in Missoula.
“Foster parents are in a very unique role,” Rotellini said. “We want them to love and attach to children, and we also want them (the children) to want to go home when its determined that it's safe for them to go back to their family. Not everyone can deal with that.”
The Schmidts' adopted children know their pasts to varying degrees. Details will be revealed with maturity, Schmidt said. One was pulled out of a hole in the ground at a nearby transient camp. Another came to Montana in a stolen U-Haul and lived for a time at the Poverello Center.
Having rescued these children, it's no surprise that what they like best about their mother - in the spirit of Mother's Day - is that she provides for their basic needs.
“I love her because she takes care of me,” said 9-year-old Dustin. “She feeds me and she gives me clothes.”
Their second eldest, 18-year-old Mickey, is one of the Schmidts' biological sons. Although his life may seem chaotic at times, he has an understanding and appreciation for what his parents do far beyond his years.
“Even on days she is so sick, when she should be going to bed, she gets up to take care of the kids,” Mickey said. “I can't think of many others who could live life like this and keep going.”
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at chelsi.moy@missoulian.com.
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