Organization seeks to place children in foster care in Horry County homes

Adrianna Lawrence
·2 min read

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — May is Foster Care Awareness month, and one South Carolina organization is asking for your help.

The organization says in Horry County, there are many children in need but not enough homes.

The South Carolina Youth Advocate Program, also known as SCYAP, works mainly with at-risk or special needs children to find homes and families for them.

It’s served families and children since 1990.

Monica Kelly is the Myrtle Beach regional director for SCYAP. She says with the rise of children entering the system, its crucial if you can, to step up and help a child in need.

“We’ve actually gotten ten kids today that we’re trying to find homes for and those are right there in your community people,” Kelly said.

SCYAP works to provide specialized care to children with special needs and those with emotional or behavioral challenges. It helps parents know what fostering and adopting is, filling out the right paperwork, and explaining what to expect.

Kelly says she wishes more homes were open to children in their own communities.

“Not have to have them move schools, not have to have them change friends and all of those things that are important to children who aren’t in foster care,” Kelly said.

The organization provided the number of children in foster care by local counties:

  • Horry County: 159

  • Georgetown County: 18

  • Florence 196

Heather and Nyal Hostrander began adopting in 2021. Between their own biological kids and fostering, they have 9 children.

Heather said in the beginning, they had no idea where to start and it was a scary process, but that quickly changed.

“They brought them to us and in the moment, I looked at them like we locked eyes, I was like, I’m going to be their mom,” Heather said. “So, they just fit right in.”

She said she’s grateful her kids will have each other to lean on as they get older.

During the process, she said they had help from SCYAP and the organization guided them every step of the way.

“It’s definitely life changing,” Heather said. “Definitely do it. You can change a life. You can change your own life because my life just wouldn’t be the same without any of these kiddos.”

Heather says they don’t plan to adopt any more children but will continue to foster as their kids go off to college.

SCYAP said even if you can’t foster or adopt, donations help too.

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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.

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