Children In Foster Care: Knowing The Reasons And Pledging For Help!

There are numerous reasons why a child may be removed from his home or family. It’s hard to know that as many as 4,00,000 children and teens in the US are in foster care currently. In Arizona, the number of children in foster care is over 13,000. While the government and organizations like Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation are doing their bit, the community needs to get engaged. As someone who is a part of the society, you can take up the cause and help children in foster care.

Below, we are discussing further on how you can help these kids, but before that, let’s understand the possible reasons why children end up in foster care.

Why do kids and teens end up in foster care?

As we pointed out earlier, the reasons can be diverse, but in most cases, neglect and abuse by parents, family members and guardians are the top reasons. A child may have faced physical, mental, sexual, and emotional abuse, or it could be related to medical neglect. If the child has no family members to provide care (incarceration), he/she may be placed into foster care. The worst scenario is when a child is abandoned by parents, and surprisingly, this is not rare either.

Being in foster care is anything but easy for a child. Many kids end up changing too many foster homes, and not all get lucky.

Helping children in foster care beyond foster parenting

If you can become a foster parent, nothing like it. More foster parents are needed, and this is something that many couples agree to do, but if you cannot, there are many other ways to help these kids and teens. The best idea would be to donate money to charitable organizations. Many organizations also accept kind donations and products that kids in foster care may need. You can look for such charitable and non-profit organizations and work with them as a volunteer. If you can mentor a teen who was or is in foster care, that’s also a great step. There is also the choice to become a respite care provider for foster parents.

Take the step forward

Every step towards helping children in foster care does matter, and we strongly recommend that you focus on your ability to support. You can also decide to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate, so that you can represent the child’s best interests in a court, so that right decisions can be taken as needed.

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