By Sara QuamThere are 11,300 children in the state of Minnesota who need foster care. Of those, 11 are in foster care in Rock County now. That doesn’t count children who are being cared for by relatives other than their parents. Rock County now has 12 licensed foster families who are available for local children. Three of those are recently licensed and filled the need before Family Services had to scramble.Jodi VandenBosch, Steen, is one of the local foster parents. She and her husband, Bruce, have done foster care since September 1998.She said, "I knew at an early age that I wanted to work with children."After having three of their own children, the VandenBosches decided to open their home to more.Now they are in the process of adopting siblings, ages 3 and 4, whom they’ve had as foster children since last fall.Jodi has also been inspired to go back to school and is now a social work intern at Lutheran Social Services in Sioux Falls."I’d like to continue working on the adoption end of things," Jodi said. "Then I can come home and be on the foster care end again."Even though she’s been inspired by foster care, she said it takes a lot of work and heart."Don’t do it if you aren’t willing to be 100 percent committed to being a foster parent," Jodi said. "People do it for different reasons, but you have to have a complete desire to do it."The children who end up in foster care often have difficulties of varying degrees and levels. … So it takes understanding, too."Lots of times, foster kids have to grow up before they should. They’ve all had traumas in their life or they wouldn’t be there," Jodi said.She said she likes to see kids be kids and learn to have fun and grow into themselves while in her family’s home. She wants them to play, ride bike and make friends.Her approach to being a foster parent is to treat the children as a part of her family."If they’re going to live in our home, they’ll be a part of the family. They get all the benefits and all the … chores even. Sometimes a whole family unit is a foreign concept to them — to follow household rules or check in at a certain time is different," she said.The VandenBosches have had 18 foster children, and each time, Jodi felt like they bonded."I hope they continue a relationship with us. I hope they think of coming over for holidays," she said.One foster daughter grew up to have two children of her own, and Jodi enjoyed helping her with her children by babysitting on weekends."There’s always a sense of sadness when they leave," Jodi said. "Sometimes it hits you later because you’re busy getting their things together or reorganizing after they leave, but it’s always hard. …"I just want to say to them that ‘I have no idea who I am to you, but if you ever need anything, I’m here for you.’"Part of what Jodi enjoys about foster parenting is seeing her children learn lessons."There are a lot of teachable moments for my own kids," Jodi said.They can see that bad choices, such as using drugs or becoming a parent as a teenager, have consequences. And they see that they are lucky to have good parents themselves.Bruce and Jodi VandenBosch are considering starting a foster parent support network. There would be a meeting to do training, or just talk and get ideas from other foster families. If interested in joining or being a presenter, call Jodi at 227-0930.