About Foster Care

In Florida each year, there are 9,000 to 10,000 children who are not able to live at home or sleep in their own beds. An adult in their family abused or neglected them. It is no longer safe to live at home, at least for awhile ... but perhaps forever. These children are newborns; they are middle schoolers; they are teenagers; they have brothers and sisters in the same boat; they are all races and nationalities; a few have serious medical problems and handicaps; most have hidden wounds on their souls.

Where do these children go when they can no longer remain safely in their homes? If there are no relatives able to care for them, then they are placed with a foster family. Foster parents are special people - they possess the gift of being able to open their hearts and homes to children in need of safety, love and nurturing, and, when the time is right, to let them go again. What sets foster parents apart is their ability to love a child like one of their own, regardless of whether the child lives with them for a month or for more than a year. Foster parents have the challenging task of providing an atmosphere that helps a child heal and prepare to go back home, if possible, or on to a new permanent home. Foster parents are a vital resource for these children as they wait in limbo, between a past that was painful and a future that's uncertain.

"It was a real home, my home. My foster parents are still very supportive to me even though I am now in Independent Living. I spend the holiday with them and am at their home often." Edou, age 18