Soapbox: A Child in Need

This week's question from Dr. Patch Adams is an intriguing one for me and all foster parents.  It is:

2. Could you choose at least one child you're not related to and give them the time and care they need?

At this very moment there are approximately half a million children who are without a permanent family and home. They desperately need time and care and love. They also need stability. These are not starving children crammed together in cribs in some foreign orphanage.  These are children in our own country.  They are children of neglect. They are children who have been abused and traumatized.  They are children of desperation and hopelessness. And they are the future!

They are the children who are learning not to trust. They are learning that people who love you, hurt you or abandon you or fail to care for you. They are in your community, no matter where you live.  They are in your schools, and all too often, they are on your streets. I am deeply pained to admit that some of them are in the care of people whose job is to protect them but who may not be protecting them. [I believe that is a small minority unlike what the media would like to imply!] But most of them are just guarding themselves as they shift from place to place, from person to person, as their hope in the future gets more and more dim, more and more deeply buried. 

They are not just small ones either.  Some of these "children" who so desperately need someone to help them, someone to be there, someone to care, have passed the cuddly cute baby and toddler stage.  They are grown to the point that even they realize their chances for a family home are racing out of the hourglass faster than grains of sand. They are boys and girls at an age when biology and development make them struggle and fight for independence they are not prepared to sustain.

Patch Adams doesn't say foster care or adoption specifically. Although I believe that is the most crucial need, if you can't make that leap, don't be stopped. Maybe it is a child in a good, loving family who just needs a mentor, an outside champion?  How many children do you know?  In your church? In your neighborhood?  At the grocery store?  Do you show them you care about them?   How often do you speak to them?  Do they look forward to and receive a smile from you every time you see them? Start by learning their name. Make a conscious point to smile and meet their eyes.  It is a place to start.  

Image credits: seattletimes.nwsource.com, ericsblog.org, more4kids.info, newsinjuryboard.com

Soapbox: Patch Adams: A Child in Need

This week's question from Dr. Patch Adams is an intriguing one for me and all foster parents.  It is:

2. Could you choose at least one child you're not related to and give them the time and care they need?

At this very moment there are approximately half a million children who are without a permanent family and home. They desperately need time and care and love. They also need stability. These are not starving children crammed together in cribs in some foreign orphanage.  These are children in our own country.  They are children of neglect. They are children who have been abused and traumatized.  They are children of desperation and hopelessness. And they are the future!

They are the children who are learning not to trust. They are learning that people who love you, hurt you or abandon you or fail to care for you. They are in your community, no matter where you live.  They are in your schools, and all too often, they are on your streets. I am deeply pained to admit that some of them are in the care of people whose job is to protect them but who may not be protecting them. [I believe that is a small minority unlike what the media would like to imply!] But most of them are just guarding themselves as they shift from place to place, from person to person, as their hope in the future gets more and more dim, more and more deeply buried. 

They are not just small ones either.  Some of these "children" who so desperately need someone to help them, someone to be there, someone to care, have passed the cuddly cute baby and toddler stage.  They are grown to the point that even they realize their chances for a family home are racing out of the hourglass faster than grains of sand. They are boys and girls at an age when biology and development make them struggle and fight for independence they are not prepared to sustain.

Patch Adams doesn't say foster care or adoption specifically. Although I believe that is the most crucial need, if you can't make that leap, don't be stopped. Maybe it is a child in a good, loving family who just needs a mentor, an outside champion?  How many children do you know?  In your church? In your neighborhood?  At the grocery store?  Do you show them you care about them?   How often do you speak to them?  Do they look forward to and receive a smile from you every time you see them? Start by learning their name. Make a conscious point to smile and meet their eyes.  It is a place to start.  

Image credits: seattletimes.nwsource.com, ericsblog.org, more4kids.info, newsinjuryboard.com

Focus on Fostering: National Foster Parents Association

Calling all foster parents.... how many of you have heard of or are a member of the National Foster Parents Association? Until last year I don't think I had ever even heard of them. But since then I have been doing some research and I think they are an amazing group of committed, dedicated people and as an organization, more of us should be supporting them and their work.

Often as foster parents we feel that we have no voice.  NFPA can be that voice.  Most of the other agencies and departments that work with children in care are focused, quite rightly, on the children.  But those of us who have chosen to care for and raise other people's children need a voice too.  We need a champion, moral support, and more.  I was shocked to learn how few foster parents in my state are members of the NFPA.  It's certainly not a matter of cost... a year's membership for a family is only $35. They have wonderful resources available for raising awareness of foster parenting issues and concerns. They have a quarterly online magazine: The Advocate. [Click here to see the December 2010 issue.]

There are affiliates in every state and a national conference annually. Check out their website at nfpaonline.org when you have some time to browse. They also have great stuff for promoting National Foster Care Month this May.... It's never to early to start planning!

I am running a write in campaign hoping to represent Region 1 [Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts] a position that is currently vacant.  Wish me luck.


Image credits: nfpaonline.org

Anything Can Happen: Free Week on Maine Coast!!!

Yes, you read it right!  I am letting you know about a fantastic contest for a free week at an amazing home right on the water of Maine's amazing rocky coast, just outside Portland. The home is fully furnished, 3 bedrooms, and a panoramic view that you have to see to believe!  [This photo from the deck is just a taste of the 180 degree views.]

Details are on the house's website:  www.maine-seascape.com
After you check out the home page, click to news and views for the contest details. The week is April 2-9, 2011. I know the house is amazing and the contest is on the up and up because the house has been in my family for decades, converted to a rental after my folks died.  Though I will not be judging the entries personally, I am excited that we are going to continue our tradition of finding unique ways to offer the peace and tranquility of Seascape to people who could not otherwise afford it!

All it takes is 1-2 paragraphs and "Wish" in the subject line and you and your family and or friends could be having an amazing respite on the Maine coast.  True, in April there might be snow or there might not.  2010 April was gloriously spring-like here but one never knows.  [It is a year round house, don't worry.] The website has tons of photos, comments from previous guests and more.

Go for it! If you can't go, but know of someone who deserves this treat getaway, send them this info and have them apply. You [or they] could be sitting at Seascape looking out the living room windows or deck at the Two Lights Lighthouse made famous by the Edward Hopper painting, or driving three miles to walk around famous Portland Head Lighthouse.The deadline is in a few weeks.  Check out the website and if you have any questions, let me know!
Good luck!!!!