May is National Foster Care Month

Here at Common Ground Childcare we are dedicated to helping all children grow in a loving, nurturing environment.

Which is why we are using our voice to bring attention to National Foster Care Month. Foster care children are in more need of advocacy than ever. The Covid-19 pandemic has done a lot to shine a light on the inequalities of representation and support, especially for our minority children in the foster care system.

What can you do to help?

1. Educate Yourself

   1. What is Foster Care? Why is it necessary? How can I get involved? These questions and more are answered Here.

   2. Key Facts and Statistics

      Include these key points in your messaging to demonstrate how child welfare and legal professionals can prioritize foster care as a services to families by engaging young people in all aspects of permanency planning and helpingthem maintain meaningful connections with family and other support systems while in out-of-home care.

      1. There are over 423,000 children and youth in foster care. Over half have a case plan goal of reunification with their parents or primary caregiver.

      2. Juvenile and family court systems can influence whether children are reunified with their families or reenter care.

      3. Meaningful and appropriate involvement of youth in their court hearings and case planning greatly benefits all participants and leads to more favorable outcomes for families.

      4. Competent legal representation for parents is associated with the achievement of timely reunification.

      5. A strong support system of professionals and family can help young people address the challenges they face during their transition to adulthood. Virtual engagement tools can be used to establish and maintain that support system by enhancing connectedness for all involved.

      6. In addition to supporting brain development, encouraging young people to be active participants in planning their own lives supports the development of leadership skills, improves self-esteem, and helps form critical social connections.

   3. The Resources that child welfare professionals need to have access to are HERE. This site has a lot of info for adults in every level of involvement, including how to volunteer and be a personal advocate for a child in need.

   4. A Proclamation from the White House - This is an acknowledgment that all foster care children, even ones recently aged out, need extra support. We need to do everything we can to make sure these kids don’t fall through the cracks just because they aren’t little.

   5. Share what you have learned and how essential our impact is to foster children. Share it with friends and family, share it on social media, shed light on the inequities of our system and work to help us change it. Here’s a link to an Outreach Toolkit to show you the basics.

2. Donate: There are tons of non-profits all over the country that donate to help Foster Care Children in some capacity. We recommend checking Charity Navigator or doing your own research before picking one, but there are so many ways to help! For example, the Blue Ribbon Project aims to make sure foster kids are provided with a backpack full of essentials to make them more comfortable in their new homes.

3. Help your kids understand Foster Care

   1. Explain to your children that Foster Care kids are just like them. Like all children, they need empathy, care, and patience while they figure out the world around them. This is always easier with books:

      1. The Foster Dragon: A Story about Foster Care — One of the Dragon Series books that helps kids begin to understand what Foster Care is and what Foster Care Kids need!

      2. Kids Need to be Safe: A Story about Kids in Foster Care — A children’s book for children IN the foster care system, and for kids who want to understand why the Foster Care system is so important.

      3. Home for Awhile — A Children’s Book about Calvin, a kid in foster care who wants to feel safe in their “for awhile” home.

      4. Love You from Right Here — Featuring a diverse representation of characters including men, women, boys, and girls, it is written from the perspective of the foster parent to the child in foster care.

      5. No Matter What — A little squirrel’s journey to find love!

Above all, please keep abreast of the situation politically. Keep pushing for equity with your local representatives! Together, we will make a difference.

Love Love Love,

LJ and your Common Ground Family