How to Show Your Support for Foster Care Awareness Month

We got you covered on how to show your support for Foster Care Awareness Month this year. In celebration and honor of May, we want to take this opportunity to recommend ways you can become an ally for the foster parents, children, and community dedicated to improving the lives of children. More often than not, there is always more that we can do for others during months devoted to an important cause. 

Here are five ways how you can show your support for Foster Care Awareness Month: 

Become a Resource Parent

To achieve the highest level of advocacy for foster care, become a Resource Parent at Kamali’i or any of your local fostering agencies! Resource Parents provide a safe and nurturing home for children to heal from past traumas before unifying with their biological parents. Through your love, compassion, and patience, you effectively help children feel secure in themselves, thus encouraging their positive behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes. In other words, you create the foundation for the rest of their lives as they transition into society as adults; you contribute to their ability to conduct themselves with strength. The stability of a guardian or parent’s love is crucial to personal development! 

Raise public awareness through social media and word of mouth 

The internet is a powerful tool where everyone can find and provide information. Use it to your advantage to raise public awareness of foster care! No matter the social platform you use, one more person in this world will know about this circumstance that affects 400,000 children in the country. You can repost articles on the latest news on foster care, such as legislation that has passed to support or uplifting stories that prove the importance of foster care. Reposting anything tagged in foster care hashtags is a great way to spread the word. Sharing your thoughts on the matter of foster care would open the door to conversations with connections about it as well; it’s a sensitive subject but is also one worth talking about to make positive change. 

Volunteer at a local child welfare agency 

Local child welfare agencies could always use the extra help! If you have any spare time on your hands, offer your support to them. There’s always an event, program, or class they’re organizing to provide essential resources, tools, and education to transition out of the foster care system–like an Independent Living Program in Riverside County. This way, you work side-by-side with the leading community that helps children. A foster care agency is a nonprofit organization; they rely heavily on donations and support from the local community to keep them going. The simple act of helping them once creates a positive impact and domino effect on everyone involved! You become a part of why Resource Parents can successfully take care of children! Just look up “private foster care agencies near me”.

Do the research to educate yourself on foster care. 

When you think of foster care, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Unfortunately, that answer may be different altogether. Sometimes, we think of children who must constantly change foster homes due to their biological parents’ traumatic or abusive households. Other assumptions may include believing that they are broken beyond repair or that connecting with them will be difficult–or even impossible. While some of these situations are unfortunately true, it’s essential to realize that every foster child experiences foster care differently; you shouldn’t generalize or group their experiences into categories. Children are people too, and we need to recognize that although they may not have the awareness or decision-making skills as an adult, it makes helping them a necessary action. 

Visit foster care speaking engagements. 

Seek out opportunities in your community where foster families gather together to share their success stories. It’s one thing to research facts and statistics online about foster care, but nothing compares to the authentic storytelling of those involved with foster care. Personal, internet research gives you the points, but through actuality, you develop empathy towards their circumstances; the families who offer to speak on their experiences are choosing to share deeply personal and vulnerable stories. You can even talk to them afterward to ask questions, set any predispositions straight, and authentically connect. 

At the heart of showing your support for Foster Care Awareness, the fact that you want to lend a helping hand and deliberately take action is a gift to foster families and children everywhere. 

Thank you so much for showing your support! If you want to learn how to become a foster parent in Riverside County, please visit our Prospective Parents page here!