LA organization KFAM helps provide homes for Asian Pacific Islander foster children

KOREATOWN, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Becoming a foster parent is a fulfilling experience that can change the life of a child. However, it can also be challenging, especially if there are cultural differences. That's why a local agency focuses on connecting Asian Pacific Islander foster parents with API children.

Peter and Romilline Santa Maria have fostered for nearly two years.

"We're both from the Philippines and we're like I wonder if there's any agency that places Filipino kids with Filipino families, so I googled that," said Romilline.

They found KFAM - the nation's first and only Asian Pacific Islander-focused foster family agency, with its headquarters in LA's Koreatown.

Here, services are available in Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

Katherine Yeom is the executive director of KFAM. It's served the foster-family community for 41 years, including its involvement in AAFI - the Asian adoption foster family initiative.

"Our job is to really focus on the API children who are in the child welfare system," said Yeom.

Decades ago something like that wasn't available.

"No one was out there targeting, recruiting, training, and licensing API homes so the API children in the child welfare could be placed in these homes," said Yeom.

The homes were considered more culturally appropriate - as opposed to foreign families where API children would often struggle.

"They were not eating, they were not talking, they were having behavior issues. They didn't understand what was going on," said Yeom.

"It's really important they can be a little bit more at ease by the environment... the imagery, the smell, having something they find familiar and connect to," said Romilline.

It's just one way to make the transition easier for kids - in a new home, living with strangers.

"But if they actually look like you, they eat your food, they speak your language it dissipates I would say 50-60% of how they feel," said Yeom.