Home | National Foster Care Month
May is National Foster Care Month.
”Every year, approximately 26,200 young people leave the foster care system without lifelong families – most at age 18. On their own, these young adults must navigate a weakened economy offering fewer jobs and less support for vital services such as housing. They need – and deserve – caring adults who love and support them.
We call on all Americans to join us in helping to change a lifetime of a child or youth in foster care. No matter who you are or how much time you have to give, you can help create permanent, lifelong connections for these children and youth.
All children — including the more than 380,000 American children and youth under 18 in foster care — deserve a safe, happy life. Young people in foster care especially need nurturing adults on their side because their own families are in crisis and unable to care for them.”
Gay foster child: I was mocked by home staff
I wonder how prevalent this type of treatment is with the privatization of child welfare services on the rise? We can all complain about the public sector services and ways in which it can improve but with certain politicians calling for even deeper cuts in social programs, what happens when we hand children over to groups with religious or social agendas? Agendas that impede their ability to provide safe care in an unbiased way?
The Pediatrician’s Role in Supporting Adoptive Families
Great research recently published in Pediatrics regarding doctor support for foster and adoptive parents. I wish that my fresh-out-of-residency pediatrician had these recommendations on hand when I explained my situation with my foster son to him. I feel like printing this journal article out and mailing it to all my local family doctor offices.
Are anti-psychotics over prescribed to foster children?
I heard this report on the way home from work yesterday evening. Incredibly disturbing findings on the prevalence and overuse of anti-psychotic drugs to treat behavioral and emotional disturbances in foster children.
Boy Scout's project to raise money to aid children in foster care
Bryant is trying to raise $1,000 to purchase the book “Maybe Days” for school libraries throughout St. Clair County and school personnel who help foster children cope with the daily uncertainty of being in the foster care system. The book is one Bryant read when he entered his 13th and final foster home at age 10. He was adopted by the Powell family when he was 11 years old.
What a sweet little boy! My check is in the mail.
The book the article refers to is linked below.
