May is national foster care awareness month! Each May, we take time to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care. We use this time to renew our commitment to ensuring a bright future for the more than 53,000 children and youth in foster care in California, and celebrate those who make a meaningful difference in their lives.
Foster care impacts communities. The kids in the system attend local schools and churches. Through your efforts, you can make a difference in the life of a child. Foster Care Month plays an important role in recruiting new foster parents by increasing the public’s awareness of the number of children in out-of-home care, and the positive impact care providers have in the lives of children.
Agape Needs Your Help
Help us improve the lives of kids in foster care by providing more homes for them. Make your dollar count! Use the form below.
Spencer’s Story
The kids need your help now more than ever! May is Foster Care Awareness Month and there is a desperate demand for resource families* to care for the kids in need. Agape needs the financial support to find, train and support resource families. We cannot change lives of innocent children like Spencer without YOU! Give by credit card and your gift will be matched.
Recently, a four day old baby boy, Spencer, came into care at Agape. His mom had used drugs during her pregnancy, and they needed a safe, loving home to care for him. Spencer is experiencing withdrawals. He is physically uncomfortable, has tremors and tight muscles. It is causing excessive crying and difficulty getting him settled and able to sleep. He will need constant help and care during the next few weeks as his body recovers.
We are so thankful for the wonderful Agape foster family who opened their home and hearts to Spencer. Olivia and Henry and their two kiddos have committed to caring for kids in foster care. They had the space in their home and welcomed Spencer with open arms.
It is not easy caring for a baby who is struggling with withdrawals. Agape trains parents on ways to help babies through withdrawals in our training classes. Not only do we train them before becoming a certified resource family, we also support them weekly afterward. All of our families have an Agape social worker with their Master’s degree come to their home each week, making sure the kids and families have everything they need. We also offer respite care for those times the family needs a break.
A lot goes into caring for these kids and families.
YOU can help.
We are unsure what Spencer’s future will be, but we do know he is loved and cared for now. What a gift to Spencer that is. He did not do anything to deserve this, but his life is so precious and valuable. We need to step up and help him and other babies just like him.
That is where the kids need YOUR help! There is a desperately low number of certified resource parents. We turned away more than 2,000 kids last year, because we didn’t have enough homes. It breaks our hearts every time we have to say “No” to a child in need.
I have a goal of raising $75,000 in the month of May. Since May is Foster Care Awareness month, I thought it was perfect timing! Help us find more families to help babies like Spencer, and support all the work at Agape!
Community Health and Education Foundation (CHEF) has been so generous to match the first $50,000 donated by credit card in May through their donation page! Use the link below and we will receive one dollar for every two dollars donated!
Not everyone can open their home, and we understand that. But anyone can donate to help us find and certify new resource families!
Can I count on you to help change the lives of kids like Spencer?
I know you care about children in need. I am so thankful for donors like you. Please help us.
For the kids,
Janet Kleyn, President
Why Agape?
We are not only CARF certified but we also provide Enhanced Treatment Foster Care which essentially means going above and beyond the minimum foster care placement requirements by recruiting and training high-quality foster families, with the goal of finding placements for even the most challenging situations, as well as providing a master’s level social worker in the home once a week.