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RACHEL REABE: In the kitchen of the Rural Stearns County Farmhouse in Central Minnesota, a coffee pot stays warm on the stove. Old-time music plays on a small radio. Over mugs of coffee, Egbert and Ethel Cohen discuss plans for the week with their housemate, a 70-year-old man named Earl.

EARL: Yeah, I hope me and you can go and-- probably go bowling in the car.

ETHEL COHEN: Oh, dad's going bowling? That's Thursday.

EARL: Yeah, dad, it seems that me and you aren't going.

ETHEL COHEN: Oh, that's a problem, isn't it?

EGBERT COHEN: Maybe I could ride with Mac that day.

EARL: Yeah.

ETHEL COHEN: I drove last time.

RACHEL REABE: Earl joined the Cohen household four years ago in a foster care arrangement put together by Stearns County Social Services. Born with developmental disabilities, Earl spent 30 years in state hospitals, another seven years in group homes, before moving here with Ebert and Ethel Cohen, a pair of senior citizens Earl calls mom and pop. Ethel Cohen.

ETHEL COHEN: I think when he first came, he didn't trust. You know, it was-- he wasn't quite sure whether we were going to keep him. I remember him asking, at least, once to twice a week, he'd ask my husband and I if we were going to keep him. And we had to repeatedly-- reassuring him that we would keep him.

RACHEL REABE: The door to foster care for developmentally disabled adults opened in 1985 with a federal law change that allowed states more flexibility in spending federal treatment dollars. Shirley Patterson is director of Developmental Disabilities for Minnesota's Department of Human Services.

SHIRLEY PATTERSON: There certainly are a lot of advantages to using a family model, including, you know, the person having a consistent unit of people that they live with, that knows them well, that can help them deal with their problems. And it's because it's a home and it's not an institution.

RACHEL REABE: The Department of Human Services is putting together a family foster care demonstration project that will show counties how to go about setting up a program for adults with disabilities. About 10% of Minnesota's 18,000 developmentally disabled adults receiving social services are now being cared for in foster homes. Social service officials feel it's an underutilized resource. But Patterson cautions that counties need a strong support network to run a successful foster care program, including ongoing training for providers, respite care, and emergency options.

Stearns County was one of the first to develop a comprehensive foster care program. Supervisor of Developmental Disabilities for the County, Tim Jeffrey.

TIM JEFFREY: Foster care is probably the most underrated resource the state of Minnesota has for caring for people with disabilities. It's less expensive and better.

RACHEL REABE: Jeffrey says Stearns County's foster care program has saved taxpayers 3/4 of $1 million each year for the last six years. The cost of a day of care in a state institution is $270. Family foster care in Stearns county, according to Jeffrey, runs around $60 a day. The major savings to taxpayers has also provided real job opportunities in Stearns County. Sandy Shear, a Stearns County Social Services case manager, says they present foster care as a vocational opportunity.

SANDY SHEAR: People want to stay in their home community, and this is a way for them to do it. They don't have to move to the Twin City area to earn an income. It can become a job. It can become a career.

RACHEL REABE: In Stearns County, foster care providers are paid somewhere between $700 and $2,000 a month per client, depending on the difficulty of care. The Cohens receive about $850 each month for taking care of Earl. Ethel had worked in nursing homes and home care for years before deciding to try foster care.

ETHEL COHEN: I wasn't ready to retire totally. It was a way for me to stay home, and it was a way for me also to continue to make an income.

RACHEL REABE: Concerns have been raised about the consistency and stability of family foster care. Shirley Patterson of the Department of Human Services.

SHIRLEY PATTERSON: The concern is that you get a person into a family home and then the family burns out and the person has to move again in a year, and then it happens again and again. I have seen as much or more stability in those kinds of arrangements than I have with arrangements where shifts of people come in and out three or four times a day. That's not stable.

RACHEL REABE: Stearns County officials say potential providers are screened very carefully before they're granted a license. A three to five-year commitment to foster care is also expected. The turnover rate for Stearns County has been less than 7% a year. There are about 100 licensed foster care beds in Stearns County. The recruitment efforts have been so successful, that about 1/4 of those beds have not yet been filled. Stearns County officials say their program works because they spend a great deal of effort in matching clients to providers.

Earl weighed in a group home for months while a social workers advertised for a family they thought would be suitable for him. When Ethel and Ebert Cohen, came along, it looked like a good match for Earl. Ethel says he really has become a part of their family.

ETHEL COHEN: Even the family now, when they invite us, it's always, and bring Earl. Or if we get cards, Christmas cards, Earl is always included in everything. This is home, Earl, isn't it?

EARL: Yes, and a nice home.

ETHEL COHEN: It's a nice home.

[CHUCKLING] Oh, isn't that nice?

RACHEL REABE: Foster parent Ethel Cohen. I'm Rachel Reabe.

ETHEL COHEN: Well, do you think we should eat in town?

EARL: What?

ETHEL COHEN: Oh, I don't know. Where would you like to eat?

EARL: We can get pancakes.

ETHEL COHEN: Will we get pancakes? That's Perkins.