Dear Fostering Connections Supporters,
Spring is upon us! It is a time of growth and new opportunities. Here at Fostering Connections, we have been busy providing opportunities and fun to children and youth who have been impacted by foster care or trauma.
We have given clients like *Sally, a young adult who was in foster care as a child, the opportunity to pursue vocational training through providing a scholarship to help her have the resources she needs to achieve self-sufficiency as a single parent. We helped the *Watson Family, a nonrelative foster family who are caring for four children in care, by providing beds and small dressers so that each child could have a bed to have a good night's sleep and place to store their clothing. We provided fun for clients like *AJ and *Alex, who will be able to attend their middle school graduation field trip and enjoy this graduation pastime because of funding provided by Fostering Connections. Through our partnership with Sunshine Play + Learn, we hosted a Valentine Party for local foster families. 40 children ages seven and younger who have been impacted by foster care were able to enjoy being a child, learning through play and connecting with other children.
Since January, Fostering Connections has supported twenty children and young adults with basic needs, educational technology, and enrichment, an increase of 25% in number of individual children served during these months compared to 2021.
Beginning in the spring, we will launch our educational programming for youth impacted by foster care or trauma. In April, we will be holding our first Career Readiness Academy session of 2022, giving teens impacted by foster care or trauma that opportunity to learn job skills and begin to plan for their future career. The majority of young adults aging out of foster care have a social network size on average of only seven people. A lack of social capital creates many obstacles with securing employment for young adults aging out of care. Our Career Readiness program gives them the opportunity to make connections and build their social capital.
I invite you to join us in our mission, providing opportunities and fun to children impacted by foster care or trauma by providing needed essentials, educational programming, and community connections. Sponsor or attend our upcoming Night of the Arts fundraiser, become a Foster Friends monthly donor, or volunteer at our programs. There is something everyone can do to support children impacted by foster care or trauma.
How can you help? Read more in the attached newsletter.
Thank you for all you do to support Fostering Connections. I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Kind Regards,
Aubrie Simpson-Gotham
Founder & CEO