Foster Care Awareness is observed every May. This observation began in 1988. It was originally created to show appreciation and gratitude to foster parents.
If you scroll through the Foster Care Awareness Month hashtags on social media you will find pictures of children with their foster families, photos of garbage bags filled with clothes and stories of families sharing their experience of becoming foster parents.
We look at the pictures and listen to the stories of the foster families, but what about the children? Do we hear their hearts? Do we listen to their stories? Or do we just donate our money, read the stories and keep going? Do we consider those children who are in the foster system?
Are children like Cornelius Fredrick remembered? Cornelius lost his life in a foster care agency in Michigan after throwing a sandwich at another child. It was reported that seven male staff members held him on the floor for more than 10 minutes. The last words that he was heard saying before he passed out was, “I can’t breathe.”
Was that the first time or the last time he was heard saying these words to staff? Unfortunately, two days later this young man passed away.
Was his voice ever heard? Not just at that moment he was being attacked, but was his voice heard during his time in foster care? How many other children in foster care feel like they cannot breathe? Not because staff are holding them down, but because their voices are not being heard? Their feelings are not being considered. Do they feel like they can’t breathe? Many children in foster care have experienced several forms of trauma. How is this trauma being helped? How are children expressing themselves in a healthy way that will allow them to breathe freely and begin the process of healing? Generations Soar has created Foster2Foster: A Self-Guided Journal to help children deal with their emotions in a healthy way. In addition to a safe environment, love, therapy and case management services, lets help children in foster care to breathe by providing them with a copy of Foster2Foster today.