May 2003Vol. 4, No. 4Resources for National Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Month, a time when communities across the nation honor America's more than 133,000 foster families and recognize the approximately 556,000 children in foster care. Foster Care Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the foster families who provide safe, stable, and supportive homes for children and youth who are unable to live with their birth families.

Goals of Foster Care Month include:

Increasing the number of foster families and volunteers.
Raising public awareness about the need to keep children connected to their extended families, to place siblings in care together, and to sustain children in their own communities and schools.
Encouraging policy makers and other community leaders across the nation to examine the causes for the high proportion of children of color in the system.
Advocating for services and supports to help young people make successful transitions to adulthood.
Highlighting success stories and positive aspects of foster care.
Putting a human face on what is perceived to be a foster care "system."

The Casey National Center for Resource Family Support distributes a toolkit to support these goals. The kit includes ideas for recognizing foster parents and social workers, tools for reaching out to reporters, materials for working with businesses and elected officials, fact sheets, graphics, and more. Download the entire kit as a Zip file (www.casey.org/cnc/foster_care_month/toolkit_download.htm -- this link is no longer available). Or request a hard copy by calling (888) 295-6727 or sending an email to cncinfo@casey.org while supplies last. (Include your name, mailing address, and the number of Foster Care Month toolkits you would like.)

National Foster Care Month is a joint effort of Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support; the National Foster Parent Association; the Child Welfare League of America; the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the National Foster Care Coalition; National CASA; and the National Association of Social Workers. For more information, visit www.fostercaremonth.org.

Other foster care resources on the Web:

On May 5, the White House Office of the Press Secretary released the Presidential Message on National Foster Care Month. The full text is available on the Casey Family Programs website at www.casey.org/cnc/foster_care_month/presidential_ message.htm -- this link is no longer available.
Find information about scholarships available to current or former foster youth and children in kinship or adoptive homes at www.casey.org/cnc/support_retention/scholarships.htm -- this link is no longer available. State by State information about tuition waiver programs for foster youth can be found on the National Resource Center for Youth Development website at www.nrcys.ou.edu/NRCYD/tuitionwaivermap.htm.
A multidisciplinary team from the University of Tennessee in collaboration with Casey Family Programs is looking for agencies to pilot test a tool to evaluate family foster care applicants' potential success. Learn more about the project and new family assessment tools at www.casey.org/research/ffa/index.htm. (This link is no longer available; related information can be found at www.fosterfamilyassessments.org/.)
Find information about each State's foster care reimbursement rate at www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/downloads/foster-care-maintenance-payments.pdf (PDF 110 KB).