The Buckeye Ranch’s Post

What does Foster Care mean to you? 🫶 "Foster care to me means being able to give children not just a roof over their heads but a home. It means stability, safety, love and compassion. It means being able to let a child be just that, a child. I feel it is extremely important for our community to have foster care, if we didn’t who would help the children who in so many different ways reach out for help. Some kiddos are so little they don’t even know they are in a bad situation because it may seem normal to them (it’s all they have ever lived). Some kiddos are older and start acting out in ways that they never learned any better. Every kid is a good kid and if it wasn’t for foster parents being able to help youth understand that they may never know their worth." – Longtime CHJC Foster Parent Are you ready to open your heart and home to a child in need? Connect with Karli Barker, our compassionate Fostering Futures Recruitment and Training Specialist. Reach out at 315-955-9861 or via email at [email protected]. Together, let's explore the incredible journey of becoming a foster parent and changing a life forever. ❤️ #FosterCare #ChangingLives

It’s National Foster Care Month, a topic I hold close to my heart. Having worked as a frontline case worker and opening up my home as a foster parent, I've seen firsthand the system's failures in adequately protecting children. The ongoing discussions and efforts around supporting children in care are encouraging. It's crucial that we collectively strive to ensure their safety and well-being. As we tackle current challenges, I can't help but think about preventable removals. How many children and families could have been spared the trauma of abuse and separation from their loved ones? The most effective way to ease the strain on an overwhelmed system is by preventing neglect, which accounts for 85% of maltreatment cases today. Struggling parents need healthy relationships, access to employment, knowledge about relevant community resources, and help with the hardest job in the world: being a parent. And every one of us can help in some way. Better Together has opportunities for everyone to support families and reduce foster care removals. Send me a message to find out how.

Foster Care in Virginia: A Call to Action! Did you know that over 5,000 children are currently in foster care in Virginia? These young lives are filled with potential, and they need our support to thrive. 📊Key Statistics: -5,500+ children are in the foster care system. -50% of these children are between the ages of 12 and 18. - Each year, around 600 kids age out of the system without finding a permanent home. Every child deserves a loving and stable environment. You can make a difference by becoming a foster parent, volunteering, or simply spreading awareness. Together, we can ensure that every child in Virginia has the chance to grow up in a nurturing home. 🌟 Learn more about how you can help: https://lnkd.in/eqyakCqc #FosterCare #TherapeuticFosterCare #HopeTree #Virginia #EveryChildMatters #SupportOurYouth #MakeADifference

May is Foster Care Awareness Month, and being in foster care can be a traumatic experience for any child. You don’t have to be a foster parent, a CASA, or a volunteer to make a difference. Take a moment to find out how many kids are in care in your area and consider reaching out to a foster family to say thanks. Even just telling a friend or co-worker that you know how rough the situation can be for any child can make a difference. Let’s all be more aware and show our support for these children in need. #FosterCareAwarenessMonth #SupportFosterFamilies

Today is the last day of National Foster Care Awareness Month! This month is dedicated to recognizing the children who are living in foster care, the foster parents who care for them, and the staff who facilitate foster/adoption services. However, we hope that you are supportive of those involved in foster care year-round! Interested in getting involved as a foster parent? Read stories from our foster families and FAQs about foster care at https://lnkd.in/ed4PMDdF #FosterFriday #FosterCare #FosterCareAwarenessMonth

There are MANY children in the foster care system who desperately need a family. Liz Joyal, Director of Family Support Services for the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange - MARE, sat down with us to share all about the process of adopting through the foster care system. She discussed how it differs from other types of adoption, requirements for prospective parents, the licensing process and timeline, and the support services that are available for families who are going through the adoption process. If you're interested in building your family by adopting through foster care, this informative talk is a must-listen! Click the link in the first comment to watch the full video.

THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM IN INDIANA IS IN CRISIS. There are not enough foster families to care for the growing number of children in state custody. It's to the point the Indiana Department of Child Services is placing children in homes in different counties – sometimes hours away from their hometown. These children need a safe, loving and stable environment with patient adults who will give them the dedication and support they need. Consider fostering children who are older! This is where the problem lies. Children who are 10 years old and older become lost in the system because most foster parents want to foster young children. This leaves a crisis for older children. My job as a youth and family specialist is spending time with these older children, finding purpose and instilling life skills. They need extra care due to the trauma they’ve endured in their young lives. I find it remarkable how resilient, smart and unique these kiddos are! Growing pains can be hard to handle sometimes, but teens don’t outgrow the need for a loving family. There are thousands of older children who still need to be fostered or adopted by loving families nationwide. Foster care can make a major positive impact on these older children! For example, teens who age out of foster care without a permanent support system are at increased risk of homelessness, young parenthood, low educational attainment, and other issues. Youth who age out of foster care are less likely to graduate high school and earn a college education too. As a result, they often face challenges in finding gainful employment. Only half of youth who were once in foster care finish high school, and less than 3% graduate college. These devastating outcomes are often a result of emotional issues, difficulty achieving passing grades, and mental health challenges. However, committed foster parenting can help mitigate their risk status. Is it hard to become a foster parent? NO. Prospective foster parents in Indiana must complete a licensing packet issued by the county, attend 10 hours of training, and pass criminal background checks and the home study process prior to placement. You can start here: https://lnkd.in/gkbKhbYU Do you get compensated? YES. Average National Youth Advocate Program Foster Parent hourly pay in Indiana is approximately $21.59, which is 10% above the national average. Be the change and consider fostering. It really takes a village and these kiddos are the future. You can be a part of that and make a difference! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.🤗

When I began my career in child welfare, specifically working with children in foster care. My naive and simplistic reason was that every child deserves a family. Then it became about empowering the family. And then how to change the monstrosity of the child welfare system. Then how to train and develop the foster care workforce. My reason doesn’t change but how I have done it has changed. But the one thing I have learned is that I can’t do it alone. I can’t do it with the team around me. It takes the entire community. Not just social workers. If you are a professor, you can do more research for children and families. If you a doctor, you can provide healing. If you a pastor, you can provide shepherding to the broken families. If you a business person you can see how your company can provide job opportunities for parents to have children returned home. If you are a teacher, you can find ways to teach the child that is unique to their learning style. I can go on and on. If you don’t know how you can help a child or a family that’s involved in foster care then drop a comment and I can help connect that for you! #fostercareawarenessmonth

If your community is like most across the US, there’s a gap between the number of foster families in your county and the number of foster families you need to care for every child who needs a safe, temporary home. To address that shortage of foster families, communities often invest more resources in foster family recruitment – an understandable response. But becoming a foster family isn’t the right next step for most people. What if there are other strategies you can implement to help close the gap and reach more than enough foster and kinship families? By inviting churches and individuals to rally around foster families, kinship families, social workers and biological families, you’re both helping improve the lives of children and influencing retention rates and the length of time children spend in care. As a result, there’s less pressure on the foster care system, reducing the shortage of foster families your community faces. And when we recognize the crucial role of community support during foster care, we can meaningfully invite our whole communities to get involved in ways beyond becoming a foster family. Suddenly everyone can do something. Check out the full post on the CAFO blog to explore how these strategic actions can help your community reach more than enough foster and kinship families. https://lnkd.in/ePwKGtzB

YES!! We need a "both/and" approach to create transformational change - shifting laws through public policy and shifting the culture of practice and social work. Codification through laws is necessary to ensure good ideas become good laws. Changing practices and regulations is necessary but not enough. While this legislation through “soul permanency” is necessary to mend and validate lifelong connections through the law for youth in foster care, we have more work to do to ensure that these connections are not severed in the first place. Specifically, we need to overturn and reimagine the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) which initiates strict 'permanency' timetables and requires youth in foster care who are unable to reunify with their caregiver of origination become a ‘legal orphan’ as a prerequisite to ‘permanency’.  Legislation is a product of our society and our values. Together we can shine a light on the impact of values that created laws and practice that legally sever relationships and leave children, youth and families in lifelong purgatory of being untethered. Together we can make it make sense!