National Foster Care Month celebrates foster parents’ actions

to strengthen families and communities

 May is National Foster Care Month, a time to call attention to the more than 500,000 children and youth in foster care throughout the country.

These children have experienced challenges in their lives that have made it difficult for them to remain at home, and have required that the children be placed outside of the home until the challenge is overcome. This placement is often traumatic and disruptive, not just for the children, but for the families as well.

Foster parents take in these children, providing a secure, homelike environment for them while the Department of Social Services and local family and children services agencies, such as Hillside Children’s Center, help the family resolve their problems.

National Foster Care Month is a time to honor the 170,000 foster families across the nation for making a real difference in the lives of these children.

Agencies try to place children in foster homes in their community, where they can attend their own school, see their friends, and have frequent contact with their biological families. The success rates for foster care are good, as more than 50 percent of the children are reunited with their families. Where reunification is not possible, foster children are usually adopted.

More than 37,000 children are in foster care in New York State. Because Hillside believes that all children deserve and benefit from the support of a family, the need for foster parents continues to grow.

Despite a growing need for foster parents, however, the number of licensed foster homes is decreasing and the shortage makes it difficult to keep children close to home during foster care. Unless the trend is reversed, our children, families, and communities will suffer.

You can help in several ways:

• Explore the possibility of becoming a foster parent by contacting Hillside Children’s Center at (585) 256-7500.
• Encourage others to consider foster parenting.
• Write or call your elected officials and ask them to support foster care legislation and funding.
• Share your experiences as a foster parent or foster child by writing or e-mailing Hillside Children’s Center, 1183 Monroe Avenue, Rochester NY 14620; info@hillside.com. We will publish your comment anonymously on our Web site, www.hillside.com.
• Write an open letter of thanks to foster parents in your community and send it to local newspapers and to Hillside for publication on our Web site.

Foster care provides an opportunity to build better futures with children and families in every community.

Hillside Children’s Center is an affiliate of Hillside Family of Agencies, a family and children services organization that provides child welfare, mental health, youth development, juvenile justice, special education, and developmental disabilities services across central and western New York. Hillside Family of Agencies is also comprised of affiliates Crestwood Children’s Center, Crestwood Children’s Foundation, Hillside Children’s Foundation, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, and Snell Farm Children’s Center.

Need More Information?
Call us, Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern time, at (585) 256-7500 or TTY (585) 256-7881. Or jbacci@hillside.com