Every time Jamee Baker and her husband bring a new foster child into their Orcutt home, they go to HomeTown Buffet. It’s a ritual they began after three little girls — ages 3, 9, and 11 — arrived at their doorstep, reunited for the first time in several years. Unfed and unwashed, they were scared to death. Baker’s first instinct, as it often is, was to wrap her arms around them. But they were not receptive. “They could not even tell us what kind of food they wanted to eat,” she said. At the buffet, Baker could see what foods they chose to eat.
Baker, who is just shy of 50, was one foster parent recognized by county supervisors this week for the 15 kids she has brought into her home in the past five years. Last week, she and her second husband, Ronnie Baker — whom she married after she lost her husband to cancer 10 years ago — adopted a 14-year-old boy, Egan. Next month, they will adopt Jonathan, who is 10. They also have five biological adult children between them.
Fifty-six foster homes exist in the county, most in North County. At any given time, about 450 county kids are in foster care, spending an unknown amount of time in a home, sometimes several in one year. In the past five years, an average of 90 kids were adopted annually.