[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 68 (Friday, May 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        A TRIBUTE TO NINA COAKE FOR 55 YEARS OF FOSTER PARENTING

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 13, 2004

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to pay 
tribute to Nina Coake of San Bernardino County, California, who has 
been mother to 1,152 children over the past 50 years, and helped create 
one of the most successful foster parent systems in the Nation along 
the way.
  Nina and Vernon Coake took in their first two foster children in 
1943, and then in 1945 built a 10-room home to provide care to many 
more abused, neglected and drug-addicted children. She cared for as 
many as six at a time constantly until she retired at age 81.
  Foster parents are special people, Mr. Speaker. The Coakes told the 
county's Child Protective Services that they would take in children at 
any hour of the day, any day of the week. They understood that watching 
over these troubled children requires constant vigilance and love. Many 
have been abandoned, molested or physically abused, and it takes an 
exceptional person to find a way to make these young people understand 
that someone cares for them.
  The Coakes opened the first shelter care home in 1976, and their work 
ultimately allowed the county to close its dependency lock-up section 
at juvenile hall. In 1996, Nina Coake began caring for medically 
fragile infants and small children, taking in severely drug-exposed and 
abused infants and seeing them through drug withdrawal episodes and 
healing broken bones.
  Nina Coake has been a leader in foster parent groups, serving as 
president of the San Bernardino County Foster Parent Association for 10 
years, and in a variety of statewide roles, ultimately becoming 
president of the California State Foster Parent Association for four 
years.
  She was a leader in convincing the county to require 20 hours of 
foster parent training--more than twice the State-mandated 8 hours. She 
has presented numerous workshops at local colleges, as well as 25 
statewide training conferences--including chairman of three statewide 
meetings. Two years ago, she was the primary foster parent 
representative in a statewide group that helped redesign the California 
Child Welfare System.
  Mr. Speaker, Nina Coake was named Loma Linda University Medical 
Center's Hometown Hero in 2001, and on May 18 this year will be 
celebrate at a county luncheon in her honor. Please join me in thanking 
her for all her years of loving dedication to the children most at need 
in our society, and wish her well in her future endeavors.

                          ____________________