Children's Village closer to reality (Joe Montana's family boosts effort for foster kids)

San Frnacisco Chronicle ^ | Monday, July 25, 2005 | Jim Doyle

[nickcarraway]

It was a simple, passionate idea: create nurturing, secure homes for abused, neglected, and abandoned children trapped in California's foster care system. The goal: to end the instability that many face when they are tossed from one family to the next.

But turning this inspired vision into the Children's Village of Sonoma County has taken nearly eight years of toil by the project's founder, Lia Rowley, and legions of volunteers, including ex-49ers quarterback Joe Montana, his wife, Jennifer, and their two teenage daughters.

Groundbreaking for the Children's Village, a cross between a group home and foster care, is planned this summer on a former dairy in southeast Santa Rosa. Eight foster family homes, six apartment units for seniors acting as surrogate grandparents and a common building will be constructed on the semirural site.

"We're going to try to keep it, as much as possible, noninstitutional," said Rowley. "It will really be a family-like setting. Hopefully, it will be a place where the children will foster a sense of belonging."

Rowley, who serves as the organization's executive director, has worked with children and their families for some 30 years, often as an adviser to Sonoma County's child protective services unit and as a behavioral consultant for families and treatment centers.

Although similar projects exist overseas and also in Florida and Illinois, the Children's Village is a first for California: the creation of family- style homes in a multigenerational environment for foster children and their siblings.

"How can you deny these kids the simple little things in life that we all take for granted on a day-to-day basis?" Montana says on the project's Web site, www.thechildrensvillage.com. "For me, that's what it's about, our kids."

Montana and his wife are honorary co-chairs of the project's fund-raising campaign.

[mtbopfuyn]

Um, excuse me, but children aren't "trapped" because of the system. What the kids need are families to adopt them. If Joe wants to do something good for that handful of kids he's building yet another group/foster home for, he'd do better putting his $$$ into action and adopt them.

[kingu]

Reading between the lines...

To keep foster children away from the religious wackos whom we deem to be unable to raise children, as well as to ensure that there is a multi-ethnic component to the foster care system, we've decided to toss these kids into a liberal test tube to see how many of them become gay.

[Khurkris]

Joe has been inolved, behind the scenes and without publicity, in positive activities for children since his early days with San Francisco 49ers. No fanfare and nothing expected back. His time and his effort.

He's a good guy. He has done this w/out the media whores using him for to their advantage. Trust me on this one.