Shining the Light on Foster Care

By Sharon Wunder

Imagine a world in which the concept of “family” is turned on its head, a world in which you are forced to pack your few belongings and move to a new home and a new family.

Most of the time you are not making the move with your brothers and sisters who are being placed in other foster homes. And imagine for a moment that you are the new family taking in a child who is confused, rootless and likely angry.

Very little imagination is required if you are one of the 556,000 children in foster care in the U.S. or one of the foster families who open their hearts and homes to children in desperate need of stability.

For the past six years, as the Housing Director for the YWCA Santa Monica/Westside’s Housing and Education Program for former foster youth, I have listened to vivid portrayals of what our young women experienced as they were first taken out of their biological homes and moved to a foster home and the subsequent foster homes and group homes in which they were placed.

You would think that after so many years, my imagination would begin to dull. But the never-ending life stories of children, overwhelmed, frightened, dismayed, feeling unloved and displaced will not let it fade. Their stories are a constant reminder of the need for compassionate care providers.

May is designated National Foster Care Month -- a time when the spotlight shines on the children and teens, the foster families and the dedicated child welfare professionals who make foster care work.

The foster care “system” is only as good as the people who choose to be a part of it. As more Americans begin to feel responsible for children who are in foster care, the system will become better and better.

Children in foster care feel more secure and are likely to do better in school when they are able to stay in the same community where they are growing up. The simple truth is that the more qualified foster parents there are in the U.S., the easier it will be to ensure that children can remain in their own neighborhoods and schools and to keep siblings together in foster care. And foster care is needed in all neighborhoods. Make our neighborhood a welcoming place for kids in foster care – find out how you can help.

Being a foster parent is not the only way to have an impact on the life of a child in foster care. You can become a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), be a mentor, or offer a teenager job training or a job.

You can support former foster youth in college and vocational school (www.smywca.org). Or, you can learn more about the foster care system at the following web sites: www.nfpainc.org, www.cwla.org and www.fostercareinfo.org, www.casey.org/cnc.

National foster care month is the perfect time for honoring the more than half a million children and youth in the U.S. foster care system and the hundreds of thousands of foster parents who care for them.

Use National Foster Care Month as an opportunity to change the perception that children in foster care are the responsibility of someone else. They are our children; their well-being is dependent on the willingness of our entire community to care for and about them. Together we can make National Foster Care Month a success.

Sharon Wunder, M.A. is the Housing Director for the YWCA Santa Monica / Westside, and Advocate for Foster Youth