May Is National Foster Care Month
May is National Foster Care Month.
While we truly believe that children in foster care should be thought of and provided for every day of every year, we hope you will join us this month by raising awareness about the needs of our country’s most vulnerable youth.
We teamed up with our friends at Foster Alumni Mentors and Gilliard & Company to create this video in the hopes of educating the public about the challenges facing the 437,000 children currently in foster care and the 23,000 young adults who age out every year.
Here are some staggering statistics.
Each day, approximately 700 children enter foster care. That’s one child every 2 minutes.
On average, children spend 12 to 20 months in foster care.
10% of youth in foster care have been in the system for more than 5 years.
1 in 4 youth in foster care suffer from PTSD. Children in foster care are more than twice as likely to suffer from PTSD as combat veterans.
Approximately 125,000 children in foster care are currently waiting to be adopted. This means rights have been terminated and there is no hope for reunification with birth parents.
Only 54% of youth in foster care graduate high school. Only 11% have the opportunity to apply to college. Only 3% earn a college degree.
1 in 3 youth who age out of foster care will be homeless within 2 years.
64% of men in prison spent time in foster care. 80% of all inmates were in some way touched by the foster care system.
We have to do better. This is a public health crisis. These are OUR children. They are in foster care due to no fault of their own. They are in foster care because of choices that other people made. They deserve love, support, and a chance at a brighter future.
“We have an opportunity to change the path that a lot of these kids have gone down for so many years. That change can only happen if we all step up and do our part. We have seen the impact of communities coming together to help each other during this current coronavirus crisis, and we need to work together to give hope and a voice to our country’s youth in foster care.”
There are many ways you can help and get involved.
Adopt from foster care. There are over 125,000 children currently waiting to be adopted. Typically, adopting from foster care is free, and in some states you receive financial support when you adopt from the system. To learn more about the experience of adopting from foster care, listen to our podcast with Steve and Rob Anderson-McLean.
Become a foster parent. Every county in every state in the United States needs more loving foster homes. Seek out your local child welfare agency and find out how to become a foster parent. To learn more about becoming a foster parent, listen to our podcast with Kate Davenport, LCSW.
Become a CASA. Court Appointed Special Advocates play an important role in the well-being of children in foster care. They get to know the child on a one-on-one basis and serve as a voice for children who may otherwise feel that they are voiceless. To learn more about becoming a CASA, listen to our podcast with Brittany Burcham.
Become a mentor. Many adults who spent time in foster care say it was “one caring adult” that made the difference in their lives. It only takes the love of “one caring adult” to instill a sense of value and worthiness in a child shuffled around in a broken system. Could you be that adult for someone who needs you?
Donate. Whether it’s to Comfort Cases or another non-profit that works to improve the lives of children in foster care, your monetary and thoughtful in-kind donations are vital to keeping these organizations moving forward.
Volunteer. Giving just a few hours of your time every week or every month can make a huge difference for children in foster care. At Comfort Cases, we depend heavily on our volunteers to keep our center running. We need people to help with everything from administrative work, to sorting and counting donations. to packing Comfort Cases. Your volunteer service allows us to operate with limited paid staff so we can allocate our funding to getting as many Comfort Cases as possible to children in foster care.
Educate. Simply sharing this information and talking to people you know about foster care can make a difference. Many times people learn about what is going on in our foster care system and say to us, “I had no idea.” When people know, they want to help. Our charity was built with the power of social media and when you take the time to share posts about children in foster care, you are helping to give them a voice.
“We have an opportunity to change the path that a lot of these kids have gone down for so many years. That change can only happen if we all step up and do our part. We have seen the impact of communities coming together to help each other during this current crisis, and we need to work together to give hope and a voice to our country’s youth in foster care.” - Rob Scheer
Click here for a list of ways you can start helping Comfort Cases today.
If you were in foster care, please join us by making a short video stating that you were in foster care, use few words to describe how you felt, and then state your name. Share it on social media with the hashtag #IWasInFosterCare.
You can also share these images on social media, please be sure to tag @comfortcases.
