Every Month is Foster Care Month (from May 2013)

The purpose of National Foster Care Month in the United States it to bring attention to the issues of foster care in this country, to focus on the hundreds of thousands of children in out-of-home care, who have been affected by child abuse & neglect, to prompt discussion of the issues facing our families and to serve as a call to action for communities and professionals.  A call to step up, to do more, to speak out, to intervene, to make a change, to impact the life of a child and a family in a very real way.  Did you know National Foster Care Month directly follows Child Abuse Prevention Month?  Seems interesting to me that we spend one month a year calling on the prevention of the very issues we then must turn around and confront through the intervention of the “system”.

According to the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, there were 400,540 children in out-of-home care on September 30, 2011. Analysis of the data shows an average of 21, 027 children and youth entered the foster care system during that year, while an average of 20, 438 exited foster care each month during the same year. 

Yet, we focus in on the issues only one month per year? 

For these children, youth, and families, shouldn’t we call attention to these issues every month of every year?  Do these children, youth, and families not deserve our focused efforts, interventions, and calls to action each month?

As a social worker, I’ve devoted my life to foster care and adoption issues for over 15 years. As a former foster care youth, I’ve lived this system, and I can tell you that “foster care” never starts and end with the change of calendar page.  Foster care is a way of life and has an immeasurable influence in the destiny of anyone, and everyone, who encounters the system…positive or negative.  The choice is ours, as a community, and the choice is yours.

Foster care children and youth live with the consequences of another’s actions every day they are in the system (and beyond!). Birth parents fight against forces that seem unbearable – addiction, dangerous relationships, and generations of family histories filled with abuse, neglect, and struggle.  Foster parents care for these children when their parents cannot and are faced with the stress of loving someone else’s child. Workers give up countless hours with their own families to answer the late night crisis calls, to transport children to and fro, to ensure safety of the children while they are in foster care, and to develop real, workable plans, in an effort to give every family a fighting chance and to give each child the attention he/she deserves.   The courts do their best to ensure every family has a just experience, under the law, and must hold everyone accountable to the standards set forth in the law.  Finally, communities are paying the bill through tax dollars and support of both government and private, non-profit programs that support the children, youth, and families during the darkest of days.
No one really wins in this system, do they?

So, why are we forced to designate 1 month a year to focus our attention on these issues?  What can we really accomplish in 1 month, besides getting people to think about it a little more during May?  Come June 1, is the impact of Foster Care Month still as strong?  Will we still pay attention?  Will we still use our voice to speak up for these vulnerable people in our community?  What will we do in August, October, and beyond?
We can do so much more!! Our children and our families deserve more!

For ways to get involved, and to make every month foster care month in your life and in your community, check out these great resources:
·         Prevent Child Abuse America http://www.preventchildabuse.org/index.php
·         National Foster Parent Association http://nfpaonline.org/
·         Foster Family Based Treatment Association http://www.ffta.org/
·         North American Council on Adoptable Children http://www.nacac.org/
·         Adopt US Kids http://www.adoptuskids.org/
·         Dave Thomas Foundation http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/
·         Foster Care Alumni Association of America http://www.fostercarealumni.org/
·         US Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children & Families Child Welfare Information Gateway https://www.childwelfare.gov/
·         National CASA Association http://www.casaforchildren.org/

President John F. Kennedy once said “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”  

Will you accept the challenge and help make foster care a focus during every month of the year? 

Challenge your loved ones to join you in making a difference. The impact you make will be not be measured in words, but in the numbers of children and families who will be touched by those of us who take this challenge and vow to do something each and every month to keep foster care in focus.

**ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FOSTER FOCUS MAGAZINE - May 2013