Walton County, FL has not escaped the fall out of the national drug epidemic.  Unfortunately, the children of users and dealers pay the highest price when their parents no longer provide their basic needs. The statistics vary from quarter to quarter, but the fact is that Walton County, FL has one of the highest rates of child removal in the state. That means there are approximately 150 to 175 children in Walton County who are displaced from their home right now.  Of those, approximately 100 are in the care of a relative or a close family friend leaving approximately 85 to 90 children who need a foster family to care for them. 

Right now, Walton County has 20 foster families to respond to the needs of the 85 to 100 children in need. Nearly 90% of the children in foster care from Walton County are placed out of county with 20% of those being placed outside Northwest Florida. Most people don’t realize how much the trauma increases for a child who is removed from their home and then additionally taken to an area that is foreign to them.  This requires changing schools, being removed from friends, teachers, church and other community support systems. Additionally, routing sibling visits and visits with parents becomes more difficult and less frequent due to travel burden. Children from Walton County are being placed as far as Miami and Tampa because of the lack of licensed foster homes locally. Although our neighboring counties have a need for more foster families, the need isn’t nearly as urgent as Walton County’s.