Month in Review: February 2024
Last month, we received 78 referrals for foster care from our six contracted counties (Berks, Bucks, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northampton). Sadly, we were not able to place any of these children into our foster homes. The reason for this, primarily, is that our homes are extremely full. Therefore, recruitment of new homes continues to be one of our agency's main goals for 2024!
Here is a further breakdown of the stats:
Sibling Groups:
- 1 group of 4 siblings
- 7 groups of 3 siblings
- 7 groups of 2 siblings
- 39 single children
Age Breakdown:
- 0-2: 6 children
- 3-5: 16 children
- 6-8: 10 children
- 9-11: 10 children
- 12-14: 12 children
- 15-17: 21 children
- 18+: 3 children
Current Needs:
We are continuing to see a great need for families open to keeping siblings together. This month, we saw several large sibling groups who had to be separated, as well as counties desperately trying to find homes that could reunite siblings already separated. One of the counties we contract with reported that it is especially difficult to find homes that can take boy/girl siblings, since they would need to have two bedrooms available.
We also need homes for children with special needs. Special needs could include medical care (including the need for in-home and outpatient therapies like speech, OT, and PT), emotional/behavioral challenges, and developmental delays/disabilities. A large number of children entering foster care have diagnoses such as ADHD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and autism, and might be prescribed medication for these conditions. They may also receive therapy or behavioral support.
Finally, homes for teens and older youth is always one of the most critical needs. While they represent the largest number of referrals, there are typically the fewest number of homes who are open to caring for them.
Interested in opening your home to children in need? Learn more here.
Want to get stories delivered to your inbox each month? Sign up for our newsletter here.