The SAFY Village Is this your year to foster a child? By Caitlin Johnson, Foster Parent and Foster Parent Recruiter It takes a village to raise a child. It’s a phrase we’ve all heard many times, but there’s actually science that supports it. Children with a formal or informal mentor are less likely to …
Children in foster care often have different holiday experiences than their peers as they are away from their homes, families and people they love. It can be hard for them to find meaning and joy during the holidays. As a foster parent, you might notice your foster child experiencing more challenges during this time of …
Creating Holiday Traditions With Foster Children in Your Care Read More »
There’s nothing like experiencing the magic of the holiday season through the eyes of a child, but imagine being a child and spending the holidays with unfamiliar faces instead of your relatives. This holiday season, over 400,000 children in the United States will be away from family as they spend the holidays in foster care. …
How to Help Foster Youth Find Meaning and Joy During the Holidays Read More »
A Q&A with Brenda Harris, a SAFY foster to adopt parent Adopting a child is one of the greatest gifts an individual or couple can give to the more than 100,000 children and teens waiting to be adopted in the U.S. November is National Adoption Awareness Month and we wanted to hear from some of …
Did you know around 7 million Americans in the United States are adopted? People choose to adopt for a variety of reasons, including completing their existing family, wanting to give a foster child a forever family or not being able to have biological children of their own. There are many things to consider when deciding …
National Adoption Awareness Month: More Children Need Loving Families Read More »
Most youth in the foster care system have experienced difficult home lives and many have been exposed to acts of abuse. This abuse comes in many forms including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. This can leave foster care youth with conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), behavioral disorders and other mental or physical conditions due …
Fostering Youth Who Have Been Victims or Witnesses of Abuse Read More »
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), Facts about dating abuse and teen violence, domestic violence is most common among women between the ages of 18-24. Other alarming facts include: Nearly 20.9% of female high school students and 13.4% of male high school students report being …
SAFY Helps to Spread Awareness for Youth Victims of Domestic Violence Read More »
A child committing suicide is a parent’s worst nightmare. The tragedy of suicide can strike anyone, but some populations are at a higher risk of committing suicide than others. Foster youth are more than two times as likely to have seriously contemplated suicide and about four times as likely to have attempted suicide than other …
The devastating reality is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 19. Suicide can be a preventable tragedy but it’s also very complex. Getting help or seeking counseling or therapy is a key barrier for many who are struggling with thoughts or attempts at taking their own life. …
The Tragedy of Suicide: Ways to Spot Signs in At-Risk Youth and How to Get Help Read More »
I am more than [fill in the blank]. We can all finish this sentence. We are all more than words on paper, labels or statistics. Foster children are no exception. Our latest campaign, I Am More Than, seeks to dispel the myths and misconceptions about children in foster care. Foster youth are real people, with …
