May 20, 2014

National Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Month, and it’s a month that has been specially allocated to acknowledge foster parents, family members, and all of the social work, government and foster care professionals who are working tirelessly to help foster youth find permanent homes. There are nearly 400,000 children in foster care, and this month is all about spreading awareness and reestablishing our commitment to find homes for children in need.

Even if you may not consider yourself directly connected to the foster care world, we feel very strongly about the connection between adoption and foster care. As adoption professionals and individuals who have been affected by the world of adoption, we are dedicated to the mission of finding homes for children who need them, with families looking to love and support a child. That’s exactly what foster care is about, and for that reason, we consider our worlds intrinsically linked and forever interconnected.

Here are a few ways in which you can help spread awareness this month, and ongoing.

Here, on the website for the Children’s Bureau, they’ve listed all the ways in which you can help promote National Foster Care Month through social media, email, and other graphics and widgets that can be added to a personal or business website. We all touch the internet every day…it only takes a few seconds to help spread a bit of awareness for these children!

This amazing toolkit, which was posted lasted year on the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth’s website shares all sorts of great tools, including how to place an op-ed in a local newsletter, graphics to share, cover photos to customize on Facebook, Powerpoints with all sorts of excellent information, and much more.

Volunteer! CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) accepts volunteers of all shapes and sizes, and if you just go to their website you can find a CASA program near you to see how you can help.

When it comes to volunteering in your local community, you can:

Tutor foster youth

Become a Big Brother or Sister

Contact a local foster care organization to see what kind of volunteer services they need

Donate new or gently used clothing, toys or school items to local drives or foster care organizations

Every small effort has the power to contribute to a giant change. There’s still time this month…won’t you join us in helping to spread awareness?