Kids in Foster Care and Foster Families Need Support and a Place to Belong

It’s the start of a new year. and while many things change from year to year, some things do not. One thing that is timeless is the need humans have to be known and to belong. As the writer Simone Weil put it, “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” I can’t help but think how entering foster care is by definition an uprooting. It’s an unraveling of the belonging that existed in a time and place and with a group of people.

No matter how necessary safety is (thus the need for the foster care system), the reality for kids entering foster care means leaving the familiarity of biological family units, sometimes transferring schools, leaving friends and known community, and entering in the abyss of unknown faces and places. New unknown soil. Uprooting is exposure. It’s vulnerability. It’s scary.

But. . .

The story doesn’t have to end there. And it’s crucial that it doesn’t. The beautiful work of committed and loving foster families helps create rootedness in new soil to provide stability, familiarity, and ultimately belonging. Whether rootedness and belonging happens for a season in a foster home or in a new family through adoption, it is the work that must be done. And it’s not just helping kids in foster care find rootedness and stability.

Foster families themselves need to be rooted in the good soil of support in their communities. The attrition rate among foster families is staggeringly high (think 50% quitting by the end of year one). And for many the reasons include not feeling seen, appreciated, or supported. They need to know belonging too and America’s Kids Belong’s Foster Friendly Communities initiative is a powerful catalyst to help make that happen in the communities around them.

How you can help

.Consider becoming a foster family. We have some great resources on our website to checkout and learn more including our FosterCon Webinars and The Foster Friendly Podcast. .

Consider supporting foster families where you live. Here are some additional resources for how your small business or faith community can support foster families.



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