Focus on Fostering: Peers Needed

Have any of you yet gotten the rant /whine / sob about how tough it is to be a foster child?  That we [foster parents] can't possibly understand what they've been through and how much it messes up their lives, How can we expect them to turn their lives around? They're doomed to fail, etc. etc. etc.

Well, some of it is true and most of us cannot understand what they have experienced... They need peers to talk to and to look up to. For adolescents and teens, there is a resource that can help.  Check out www.fosterclub.com   It is a national network of teens in foster care.  They offer peer support, programs, resources and tons of inspiration.  They profile the lives and accomplishments of foster teens and teens who have successfully transitioned out of foster care and into independence.  Their "All-Star Club" provides amazing role models for children and teens in care.  I was lucky enough to meet many of them at a national conference in Nashville several years ago and WOW! I wanted to pack them up and bring them home to meet my kids and inspire them.

Also on their site are many sobering statistics about foster care, state-by-state resource connections, and more. Most interesting to my kids was their "foster to famous" section on foster care alumni .... well-known, successful people, many of whom are famous for their success and all of whom were in foster care when younger. Three surprises among the list are Law and Order's Ice-T, former Miami Heat BB star Alonzo Mourning, and Apple's innovating genius Steve Jobs !]

Image credits:  fosterclub.com