NIAGARA FALLS — When Evyonne Mack moved to Niagara Falls, she was homeless.

Today, she has a home for herself and the children that Niagara County’s Social Services Department sends her way.

Mack was recently honored as Niagara County’s foster parent of the year.

“Niagara County is fortunate to have a foster and adoptive parent like Evyonne Mack,” Social Services Commissioner Anthony J. Restaino told the County Legislature as it honored Mack last month.

Mack, a South Carolina native, decided to move to Niagara Falls 16 years ago, when she met a woman from Niagara Falls in a shelter in South Carolina.

“I was in a very violent domestic relationship,” said Mack, who has two grown daughters, ages 28 and 21, from that relationship.

“I changed my life. I went through a shelter in South Carolina, and I met a girl from Niagara Falls,” she recalled. “When I came here, I was homeless.”

But Mack, 48, eventually found her niche in the Falls, operating a small day care center in her home.

It accommodates up to 12 children, and it was a natural for her to join the

ranks of Niagara County’s foster parents as well.

“I just fell into it, because I’ve been doing day care for more than 10 years,” she said.

She first became a foster mother in March 2004. So far she has had eight children placed with her, and she has adopted two of them: Deione McCoy, 8, whom she received in 2004; and Xavier Mack, 4, whom she was assigned in 2008.

In addition to her adopted sons, she has two other foster children.

The annual foster parent of the year is chosen by the Social Services staff. The staff praised Mack for providing a private area in her home for the biological parents to visit the children and for early intervention appointments.

She also was saluted for her efficiency in keeping the foster children’s appointments for services up to date and staying in touch with caseworkers regarding their progress.

When a foster child goes back to the birth parents, Mack offers to be a resource for them on the child’s likes and dislikes.

Caseworkers who chose her for the award made such comments on her nomination forms as “a true pleasure to work with,” “a remarkable foster parent” and “a tremendous asset to this department and the children in her care.”

Burt Marshall, director of social services, said the county currently has 88 foster parents supervising 261 children. Those interested in volunteering to become foster parents may call the Social Services Department at 278-8702.

Mack said the longest she’s had a foster child assigned to her is a year and a half, while the shortest was just overnight.

Besides her day care and parenting duties, Mack works part time for the Dale Association, taking care of an elderly woman in the client’s home.

When she mentioned her award to her former sister-in-law in South Carolina, the woman told her she was just cut out to be a caregiver, Mack said.

“You’ve been taking care of people your whole life,” the former sister-in-law said.

“It comes so natural, just to be there for a child,” Mack said.