May is. . . National Foster Care Month

By Stevie Irby and Aly Ferrante

May is National Foster Care Month. With that, we acknowledge the thousands of children in foster care hoping to find permanency and all of the placements, organizations and professionals working day in and day out to make that hope a reality. Whether children are in foster homes, adoptive homes, residential treatment centers or placed with family members or fictive kin, there are critical overarching needs at each. All targeted support services, resources, community involvement and collaborative relationships must be trauma-informed, individualized and culturally responsive. Each of these are needed to ensure that we are collectively meeting the needs of each individual child and family involved with the child welfare system to ultimately bridge gaps, strengthen families, and achieve permanency.

As a former foster parent, Trauma & Wellbeing Manager Alli Waterwall emphasized the need for support and resources. “Children in foster care have so many needs as a result from their trauma. These needs not only impact the lives of each child, but the homes they are in as well. Providing individualized support for each child as well as their caregivers and family unit is necessary to help children heal from their trauma and relearn how to trust and connect with those in their lives. Support within the child welfare system, as well as within the community makes all the difference.”

At Child Advocates of Fort Bend, our Advocates work collaboratively with CPS, caregivers, parents, schools, mental health providers, attorneys, fictive kin and connections to ensure we are meeting the needs of the “whole-child” along with their caregivers. This close collaboration can help identify gaps and put action steps and resources in place to prevent placements from breaking down and prevent children from experiencing further trauma caused by multiple placement changes. On a broader spectrum, our very own Fort Bend County community has a number of collaborations that provide support for children in care and their placements. Some of these resources include:

Behavioral Health Services which works to increase awareness, services and supports to address the complex needs of persons with behavioral health disorders

Post adoption services such as Arms Wide which provides wraparound support for families who have adopted children out of the child welfare system

Texana which provides behavioral healthcare and developmental disabilities services

The Fort Bend TBRI Collaborative which provides bi-monthly Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Caregiver Training within the community to equip caregivers and professionals with tools for working with children who have experienced trauma

Respite Care Programs that can provide caregivers with short-term child care services that can offer temporary relief and improve family stability

Foster Care Liaisons that are available at every district to offer support and guidance for families with children involved with the child welfare system

No matter what type of placement a child in the foster care system is in, the need for support remains. Together with the many hearts of service in our community and beyond, CAFB focuses on bridging the gaps and strengthening the voices of our community’s most vulnerable as well as those who care for them in the hope to achieve the permanency they desperately need and deserve.