Mother's Day has come and gone. It's always such a special day, but I am wondering why we could not have a special day for Foster moms and dads?

Foster parents are a group of individuals who open their homes and hearts to abused and neglected children. Terri Thompson, supervisor for foster care in Lancaster County, sent me some alarming statistics:

• There is only one foster home for Fort Mill Township and that's in Lancaster County. When children are removed from the home, DSS tries to keep the children in their community and in the same school (unless there is a safety issue).

• Lancaster County has only 23 licensed foster homes (regular foster homes are not therapeutic) and only 14 of the 23 are licensed to take teenagers. Only nine of the homes are licensed to take sibling groups of two children or more. This is especially important because DSS strives to keep siblings together, and in order to do this they often have to remove them out from the county.

• In 2005, there were 25,370 reported cases of child abuse, representing 2.5 percent of South Carolina's children.

• 10,759 South Carolina children were confirmed as abused in 2005.

• The number of children in foster care in South Carolina has increased over the past five years.

• Child abuse and neglect contributes to numerous other social problems, such as poverty, crime, alcohol and drug abuse.

Please open your home and hearts to these children; They deserve a break. For more information, call the Lancaster County DSS at (803) 289-8539 or (803) 289-1563.