Get Involved with Foster Care, Change a Lifetime

Issues: Education, Foster Care, Local Issues

Every day, nearly a half-million children and youth depend on foster care in America – through no fault of their own.

President Obama has dedicated May as National Foster Care month and during this month we celebrate foster families who provide the loving and nurturing care for children in need. For kids in foster care, the state is their only parent and we need to be better parents.

It is our responsibility to make sure that our children have every opportunity to become productive citizens. But unfortunately, a disproportionate number of foster care youth end up homeless and in the juvenile-justice system.

I want this Foster Care Month to be more than just awareness. I want it to be about action. While Speaker in California, I championed a bill that extended the foster care emancipation age to 21 – helping youth continue to be supported during crucial years of development.

Now in the U.S. House of Representatives, I've introduced two bills honoring and assisting foster youth. First a Congressional Resolution Recognizing May as National Foster Care Month, honoring foster youth and parents. Second, H.R.2012 Foster Care Mentoring Act focused on connecting foster care youth with responsible, caring adults.

I hope that you too will take this month to support young people in foster care, and to recognize the committed adults who work on their behalf each day, so that every other month of the year kids and youth in foster care have more stability and more opportunity.

We need to make it easier for foster youth to get an education, a job, and become self sufficient and not have homelessness or incarceration be the default.

No matter how much time you have to give, you can do something positive that will change a lifetime for a young person in foster care.

Get Involved

IF YOU HAVE A FEW MINUTES...

IF YOU HAVE A FEW HOURS...

IF YOU HAVE A FEW WEEKS...

IF YOU HAVE MORE TIME...

IF YOU CAN FOSTER YOUTH ...
Call 1-800-KIDS-4-US (543-7487)

 

Helful Links 

Los Angeles County Department of Childern and Family Services: DCFS Resource Family Recruitment Section hosts monthly Resource (Foster & Adoptive) Parent Orientations. View the class schedule for may or june. Interested participants need to contact 888-811-1121 to register for the orientation.

Dave Thomas Foundation & Wendy's Wonderful Kids: maintains a network of adoption professionals that work for public and private adoption agencies and provides free educational resources, promotes awareness, and supports adoption professionals and agencies throughout the United States and Canada to ensure that every child finds a forever home.

Child Welfare
Administration for Children and Families 
http://www.acf.hhs.gov 

CA Children and Family Services Division 
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cfsweb/ 

CA Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare 
http://www.cachildwelfareclearinghouse.org 

Chapin Hall Center for Children 
http://www.chapinhall.org 

Child Welfare Information Gateway 
http://www.childwelfare.gov 

Child Welfare League of America 
http://www.cwla.org 

First 5 California 
http://www.ccfc.ac.gov 

First 5 Los Angeles 
http://www.first5la.org 

National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention 
http://www.friendsnrc.org 

United Way of Greater Los Angeles 
http://www.unitedwayla.org 

Early Childhood Education/Child Care 
CA Child Care Resource & Referral Network 
http://www.rrnetwork.org 

CA Community Care Licensing Division 
http://ccld.ca.gov 

CA Department of Education/Child Development Division 
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ 

Infant Development Association of California (IDA) 
http://www.idaofcal.org 

LA Office of Child Care 
http://www.lacountychildcare.org 

Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) 
http://laup.net 

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) 
http://www.naccrra.org 

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 
http://www.naeyc.org 

National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) 
Recognition and Response: Pathways to School Success for Young Children 
http://www.recognitionandresponse.org 

Preschool California 
http://www.preschoolcalifornia.org 

Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) 
http://www.pitc.org 

Project ABC-LA 
http://www.projectabc-la.org 

Health 
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 
http://www.aap.org 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/National Center on Birth Defects & Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) 
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/ 

Healthy City LA 
http://www.healthycity.org 

Maternal and Child Health Library 
http://www.mchlibrary.info 

UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities 
http://www.healthychild.ucla.edu/