"We are Living the Foster Care Crisis."
We are living the foster care crisis.” Our director, Flo Rhue, opened our last monthly staff meeting with this sentence, and looking around the table it was easy to see that everyone agreed.
While many people have known for years that the foster care system has its challenges, few realize just how dire the crisis has become. Yet for those of us working on the front lines, we see the devastation every day: children sleeping in government offices. Siblings being separated. Healthy children remaining in hospitals because there are no homes for them to be discharged to. It seems that almost every day, we are receiving desperate calls from across the state looking for homes for children in need.
In 2023, our agency received referrals for 1,053 children from our six contracted counties (Berks, Bucks, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northampton). We don’t track referrals from other counties, but if we did the number would be much higher. Each of these precious, one-of-a-kind children has their own unique story, interests, and personality. They range in age from preemies to young adults. They represent a rainbow of races, ethnicities, gender identity, and sexuality. While they all have different hopes and dreams for their lives, they are united by the fact that, through no fault of their own, they are in need of a safe place to call home.
As a foster care agency, we are eager to be able to provide homes for these vulnerable children. We work tirelessly to get the word out about the dire need for people willing to open their homes to children. But lately, the number of people completing the process of becoming licensed foster parents seems to be shrinking. Our foster families are feeling the strain as well, with many of them being asked to care for additional children even while they already have a current placement in their home.
While the number of children needing foster care is steadily growing, the number of open foster care beds is rapidly declining. Therefore, we have reached the point of crisis.
How can you help?
- Becoming a foster parent – this is the greatest need. Many people are surprised to learn that all kinds of people are welcome to be foster parents: single or married, LGBTQ, all ages (at least 21), homeowners and renters, apartment dwellers, full-time working parents, etc. If you would like to learn more about opening your home to children, you can learn more here.
- Spreading the word – help us share the critical needs with those who may be able to help
- Providing other kinds of support – while not everyone is in a position to foster, everyone can do something. From volunteering your time to donating funds to help support our efforts, we would be truly grateful for any way you could help!
Even as we live this crisis, we are encouraged by the glimmers of hope all around us. Last year, we were able to say YES to 87 children, providing them with a safe place in the midst of their storm. We supported over 40 birth families to help them prevent their children going into foster care or work toward reuniting with them if they did end up in care. And we certified 12 new foster or adoptive families, opening up 24 beds for children needing homes.
On March 7, we had the opportunity to share some of this hope, along with an appeal for foster families, at a Care and Share event at Faith Church. Some reporters from WFMZ also attended along with their cameras, to help us spread the word even further in our community. We are so grateful for their support, for our three amazing families who shared their stories, for Faith Church for planning and hosting the event, and for all of the individuals who came to learn more about the needs for foster care locally.
You can check out WFMZ’s story here.
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