BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — The first Tuesday of May is known as National Foster Care Day. There is a nationwide shortage of foster care parents.
In the Natural State, 4,000 children are in the foster care system. In Northwest Arkansas specifically, there are around 450 kids still looking for permanent homes.
In 2021, foster mom Kayla Daniels opened her home to 8-month-old twin boys Kaden and Jaden.
"First I took them in October and then their brother, which at the time I didn't know they had a brother. He came in November," Daniels said.
Today, the twins are 3 years old and their oldest brother MJ, short for Maverick Jace, is 4. However, Daniels said the nicknames for Kaden and Jaden are very unique.
"When the Department of Human Services leaves, I am with these two little boys and I'm like, I don't even know how to tell these twins apart," she said. "One of them was this little bitty slim thing and the other one was just so chunky. And so we started calling them Slim and Chunk. It's just kind of stuck."
In the foster system, the goal is to eventually reunite the children with their biological family. Daniels only planned to foster the siblings for two weeks.
"I had this dream in my head that I was like, 'OK, I'm gonna foster all these kids, and I'm going to help them get back to their families, and it's going to be great.' But, obviously, God just has such a different plan for my life," she said. "When we [talked] about them potentially being adopted, and then my house moved to a foster adoptive home."
County coordinator Brandy Shioyama with The CALL in Benton County says there are only 100 foster homes in Northwest Arkansas right now. While children are separated from their parents and other family members, they're also torn apart from their siblings.
"Siblings being placed together is always a priority for the state," she said. "Unfortunately, because of there not being enough homes with space, they often get split up."
But that wasn't the case for Daniels. She made it a priority to keep them together.
Daniels calls her three boys her "Sonshines," brightening her life in ways she didn't expect.
"They are the light of my life," she said. "They are my greatest accomplishment yet. When I think about all the things that I've done in life, by far, they are the cherry on top. They are just amazing kids with funny personalities, and they keep me running and laughing and going."
The entire adoption process took 935 days to make it official. Because of the drawn-out process, April 30 is a day that will always remain close to her heart.
"It was just an emotional field day because it had just been so long. It was just so much joy for me," Daniels said. "Just being grateful that like it was all worth it, and that we were finally able to be a family."
On the outside looking in you may think Daniels is raising this inseparable trio alone, but she has a village supporting her through motherhood.
"My parents, my friends that have become family, they have been the rock of all of this, and the reason why I can do the things that I do and the reason that I parent, the way I parent, and how our story has been such a success," she said. "I have three amazing God moms that have literally just from day one been there and supported me. They've just done everything to make sure that we have been such a happy and healthy home."
While Slim, Chunk, and MJ found their forever home, Daniels says she knows one day the boys will want to know their biological mom and has no problem opening that door.
"I told her, 'When you are at your healthiest place and in a good place in your life, I want them to know who you are and I want them to be able to meet you because we both play some part of the reason they're here,'" Daniels said. "I hope that one day, our story ends with all of us in the same room just watching these kids grow up together."
The nonprofit organization The CALL works to recruit, train, and support families in the community to participate in foster care. In Northwest Arkansas, Shioyama says children are entering foster care due to abuse, neglect, and primarily substance abuse from their parents or guardians.
"A parent who abuses substances or has a problem with addiction often just can't parent effectively," she said.
For anyone thinking about fostering or adopting children, Daniels encourages you to "trust God" because you could find your forever home.
"If you're thinking about fostering, I would absolutely say do it. The numbers for kids in foster care versus homes in Arkansas are outrageous. There's just so much space to help these young kids out, and that's why I decided to do it. And now, you know, my kids have become my forever home. If you're just waiting on that adoption day, or if you're waiting on opening your home to foster, whatever it is, just trust that God has you in the right place at the right time."
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