Published by The Spokesman-Review

for Valley Voice dated January 29, 2005

as written by Nina Culver

Making a difference

Karen Jean Matsko Hood is devoted to children, and not just the dozen who live in her home.

She has been a foster parent for several years and has adopted six children.  She writes children’s books and is working on a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies, with an emphasis on child abuse and neglect.  She also volunteers as a court-appointed advocate for children.

“There’s a huge need there,” she said.  “You’re their voices and ears in the court.”

She also writes cookbooks and poetry.  Her poems were published in 65 different journals before she got up the courage to publish her fist volume of poetry.  She favors nature and social issues, particularly children’s issues, as her topics.

“If something’s bothering her, she writes a poem about it,” said her husband, Jim Hood.

But, after teaching in the Virgin Islands and Iowa and doing substitute teaching in Iowa and Spokane Valley, she had a moment of clarity.  “I realized life was going by quickly,” said Hood, 52.  She knew that if she wanted to write, she had better get started.

She began writing full time in 1999.  Since then, she has created a book about her family tree and prepared workbooks and activity books for children.  She’s written about Icelandic Horses, which she breeds.

But her devotion is to kids, particularly foster children.  “It was something I thought I could never do,” she said of becoming a foster parent.  “It was only after I had a large family that I fell secure enough as a parent.”

There are different kinds of foster parents.  Some offer short-term care and others provide emergency care, for example, when police bust a methamphetamine lab and need to place the children somewhere immediately.

“We signed up for long-term care because we wanted to make a difference.” The couple has five children of their own and six adopted children.  A foster child is also currently staying with them.  Originally told they couldn’t have children, the couple began looking into adoption.  That started them on the road that would lead to being foster parents.  “Once you pass that decision that you can adopt, your whole mindset changes,” she said.

Her husband, who works as a dentist, shares her passion for foster children.  “Often, the children just want to be hugged and held,” he said.  “We’ve got plenty of laps in our family,” he said.

Hood’s next book will be an introduction to foster care and how people can get involved.  She also plans a similar book on adoption.  “I’m a child advocate,” she said, “anything regarding children.”

She fits her writing in during spare moments in the day, carrying a tablet with her wherever she goes.  Her husband said she’s often up at 3 a.m. to write in the quiet hours, before the kids get up.  “Our house is not the quietest house in town,” he said.

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