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Saturday,ÊF ebruaryÊ11,Ê2017
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www.SunCommunityNews.com
In SPORTS | pg. 20-21
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Revenge of the Vikings
In opinion | pg. 6
Guest editorial
Boys turn away Ti; Lady Vikings dominate
Ban on refugees misguided
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In OUTDOORS | pg. 19
Boreas debate draws crowd Land use discussed at forum
Need for foster families reaches ‘crisis’ levels With drug abuse continuing to erode family support networks across the region, the need for loving homes is greater than ever, say officials pete@suncommunitynews.com
The need has reached a critical state, said John Bernardi, CEO of the United Way of the Adirondack Region. “It’s a crisis,” Bernardi said. Kids are now being sent out of the TriCounty region because there are not enough families, he said. But officials in Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties want to buck the trend and keep kids here.
TICONDEROGA — Social service agencies across the Tri-County region are desperately searching for foster families to take in the influx of children entering the system.
DRUGS DRIVING NUMBER In 2012, an average of 113 children were receiving services each month in Franklin County alone.
By Pete DeMola
Helping the helpless is her goal
The number leapt to 146 by 2015. The uptick is due to a constellation of factors. Unemployment and loss of income is one. But echoing national trends, substance abuse continues to be a leading culprit in family breakdowns, leading to abuse, neglect and abandonment. “I hate to be simplistic, but the drug epidemic is what’s driving that number,” said Jeremiah Pond, a children’s services supervisor for the Franklin County Department of Social Services. In Clinton County, 50 to 60 percent of children entering the system can be attributed to drug abuse.
Heroin, in particular, puts a major human and financial strain on the system, said Clinton County Department of Social Services Commissioner John Redden. Officials had just gotten a grip on curbing meth before opiates took their place. “We never got to a stable spot before the opioids,” Redden said. Addicts have turned to heroin as a cheap alternative to prescription medication, which has been subjected to increased safeguards in recent years, including the creation of a statewide prescription tracking database and reformulations to make abuse more difficult. >> See FOSTER CARE | pg. 11
Cam Brown of Ticonderoga works with group that aids poor kids By Lohr McKinstry
lohr@suncommunitynews.com
TICONDEROGA — A Ticonderoga woman’s work with Trades of Hope is helping poor children in impoverished nations like Haiti. Colleen “Cam” Brown is working with Trades of Hope, a Florida-based organization that imports products made by poor women from nations like Haiti and sells them in the U.S. The Haitian worker gets paid and remaining money is used for charity work in impoverished places. Brown has raised enough money to send an orphan to school and purchase a bicycle for a woman in Cambodia to commute to and from a job, among other things. Brown said she got started with Trades of Hope in 1998, after she and her husband, George, became sponsors to a fouryear-old boy, Israel, from Haiti, through Compassion International, a Christian group that releases children from poverty. >> See CAM BROWN | pg. 10
This is Cam Brown of Ticonderoga with her sponsored child, Lovely, who lives in Cayes, Haiti. Lovely desires to be a nurse when she grows up. Brown said the photo reminds her that we all have dreams that can be realized. Photo provided