70,900 CASA volunteers serve 237,000 children in over 900 local programs nationwide. To find out more about becoming a CASA volunteer in your area, visit the CASA website.

The National Foster Care Month campaign is a partnership of fourteen national organizations that support foster care issues throughout the year. Unfortunately, we cannot provide general information links to local and regional agencies and service providers. Click here for more information on how you can support the National Foster Care Month effort by linking to this site.

You can become a mentor to a young person in your own home town, or you can become a "virtual" mentor (vMentor) to a young person anywhere in the United States.

To find out how to become a mentor to a child or young person in foster care in your local area, visit the website of MENTOR. Most states have a local mentoring partnership which can help connect you with an organization in your area.

The vMentor program is sponsored by Foster Care to Success. Visit the vMentor website to learn more about this program, which matches volunteers with young adults ages 16-23 who are, are formerly were, in foster care.

You can order pins and ribbons, posters, and toolkits in our online store.

We recommend the following:

• Check other pages on the Foster Care Month site. We provide many useful resources, including Statistics and Data
• Child Welfare League of America
• Children's Bureau
• National Foster Parent Association
• National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
• Child Welfare Information Gateway
  

Each state has its own regulations governing group homes. You should start by finding out the requirements for becoming a foster parent in your state. See our FAQ "How can I become a foster parent?"

Use our sample letter to ask your elected officials to declare May as National Foster Care Month.

Our Change a Lifetime Menu offers suggestions for several ways you can raise awareness about foster care issues, such as wearing a blue ribbon, writing a letter to your local newspaper, sponsoring or taking part in a foster parent appreciation event, or promoting National Foster Care Month with a link on your website.

There are many ways you can show your support for children and youth in foster care or for foster parents. See our Change a Lifetime Menu for some suggestions to get you started.

There are about 104,200 children in the United States waiting for adoptive homes. Many children are adopted by someone who already knows them – a foster parent, mentor, or volunteer. It’s a great way to meet some children and teenagers who are looking for a permanent home.

Every state has its own rules about adoption, but you can adopt a child from any state. There are many more children in need of adoptive homes than there are adoptive parents available. To fill this gap, states are looking for people who:

• want to help children
• can share their time and their homes
• are married, or unmarried
• are young or older
• are any race or religion
• work outside the home or stay at home
• will complete an application, agree to a background check, have a home study, meet state requirements, and are at least 21 years old

For more information on adoption, visit these sites:

• Child Welfare Information Gateway, A Service of the Children’s Bureau:
• AdoptUsKids, A Service of the Children’s Bureau
• North American Council on Adoptable Children
  

Respite care is short-term care of a child in order to give the regular caregiver a break. Respite can be for a few hours or a week or more.

Each state or county has its own procedures for foster parents to get respite care, and many private agencies also provide their own forms of respite.

If you are a foster parent or kinship caregiver, your first step should be to check with your social worker to find out what types of respite, if any, are available to you.

Other sources of information about respite care are:

• Your state or local foster parent association
• The ARCH National Respite Locator Service
  

• Use the materials and resources you find on this website to raise awareness about the magnitude of the need to find and retain competent, caring foster parents in your jurisdiction.
• The National Foster Parent Association also provides technical assistance: find contact information for Karen Jorgenson, Executive Director on their website
• See the following recruitment publications from the Child Welfare League of America:

1. Foster Parent Retention and Recruitment: The State of the Art in Practice and Policy
2. A Community Outreach Handbook for Recruiting Foster Parents and Volunteers

Find additional resources and links on the following websites:

• National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
• AdoptUsKids
• Child Welfare Information Gateway

Many states offer tuition waivers or tuition assistance for young people who are or were in foster care. Check your state fact sheet on the website of the National Resource Center for youth Development to find out whether your state offers tuition waivers.

• More than 380,000 American children under 18 are in foster care. About 104,200 children in foster care are free for adoption. Every year, about 26,200 young Americans age out of foster care without a legal, permanent connection to a caring adult.
• Please consider adopting a child or young person who needs your help in the United States. Visit the website of AdoptUsKids to meet some of these children.
• For information on the process of adopting from another country, see the resources on the Child Welfare Information Gateway website.
  

There are several national organizations that can help you connect with other young people online or in your own local area:  

• Foster Club is a place you can go to get encouragement, motivation, information, education, and learn about benefits you might be entitled to. You can join this online club and get information about foster care, including articles, questions and answers, message boards, contests, discussions, and even biographies of famous people who grew up in care.
• Foster Care Alumni of America helps alumni of foster care to connect and advocate for positive change, at both the individual and systems level. 
  

Foster parents do not get paid for the job of caring for children; they receive a reimbursement that is intended to provide for the needs (e.g., food, clothing, school supplies, etc.) of the children in their care. Each state sets its own rates for reimbursement. You can find current foster parent reimbursement for most states in "Foster Care Maintenance Payments," a document prepared by the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning.

AdoptUsKids, a Service of the Children's Bureau, has published a resource guide on adoption by military families, which include the steps to becoming an approved adoptive parent. Although these steps are used to describe the adoption process, readers are encouraged to make adaptations to the foster care licensing/certification process as applicable. Most are pertinent to becoming a licensed foster parent, particularly in States that use a "dual licensure" process to approve families for both fostering and adopting. Click here to find this guide, "Wherever My Family Is: That's Home!"

Foster care and adoption of Indian children is regulated by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1987 (ICWA). A short explanation is available in a brochure from the National Indian Child Welfare Association titled "The Indian Child Welfare Act: A Family's Guide."

For more information about Indian children in foster care and adoption, see:

• National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
• Child Welfare League of America
• National Indian Child Welfare Association
  

The National Foster Care Month partnership does not publish the works of individual authors. You should locate a reputable publisher whose products are similar to yours. There are reference books available that list many resources for writers.

The National Foster Parent Association accepts submission of articles for its quarterly newsletter, the National Advocate. Contact:

Karen Jorgenson, Executive Director

Email: kjorgenson@nfpainc.org

If you are a young person in foster care or an alumni of foster care, check these resources:

• FosterClub Contests
• The Mockingbird Society
• Represent (Youth Communication)

For information about post-secondary scholarships for young people who were in foster care or adopted, see:

• Foster Care to Success Scholarship Information
• State-by-State Information on Education and Training Vouchers
• National Foster Parent Association
  

For information about education and training vouchers created under the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001 and provided by states, see:

• National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development

For other services for yourself or a child or youth in your care, contact your local social services organization or faith-based institution. Begin with your own case manager, who may be able to direct you to available funds.

Contact your state or local foster parent association.

The National Foster Care Month partnership is not a grant-making organization.

It can be very helpful to talk with others about experiences like your own. Here are some resources that can help you find a group or even start a new one:

• The National Adoption Directory at the Child Welfare Information Gateway: Select your state and check "For Adoptive/Foster Families" under Support Groups
• State and local foster parent associations are listed on the website of the National Foster Parent Association. Click "Reference & Info."
• AARP Foundation Grandparent Information Center's (GIC's) Local Grandparent Support Database
• North American Council on Adoptable Children Support Group Database

There are also many online support communities, such as:

• Foster Care Adoptive Community
• FosterParentNet
  

Here are several major conferences you may be interested in:

• The National Foster Parent Association Conference
  
• National CASA Conference
  
  

Use our toolkit to find ideas for events, a sample letter of appreciation, and materials to help you publicize your event in your local media.

We encourage you to use the National Foster Care Month logo on your website, linking it to www.fostercaremonth.org. You may also use the logo on printed materials.

A variety of Foster Care month logos and graphics are available on this website on our Logos & Graphics page.

We encourage you to link to the National Foster Care Month website, www.fostercaremonth.org. You may want to download and use one of our logos for your link.

Begin by educating yourself about the facts about foster care and the needs of those touched by this issue. About Foster Care

Visit the following websites for information about advocating for foster care issues:

• Child Welfare League of America
• National Association of Social Workers
• FosterClub
• The National Foster Parent Association and its state affiliates perform advocacy work. Join the national or a state association to get involved.
  

Every state has its own programs for housing assistance. For information about your state, please contact your state's Housing Finance Agency. You can find contact information on the website of the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

There is no one single definition of this term, but it is being used in many places to describe individuals who are willing to support children, youth and families involved with the child welfare system.

National foster care and adoption organizations use the term resource families to better reflect the changing role of caregivers. Resource families include foster and adoptive parents, kinship and guardianship families, mentors, and respite caregivers who provide support, guidance, advocacy, and nurturance for children and youth and their families. Resource families also make valuable contributions to the system of care and the community as well as being a source of support for each other. The term is meant to be more inclusive and reflect the dynamic role that caregivers play.

The National Foster Care Month partner organizations are not able to intervene in individual child welfare cases. We suggest you go through the following steps in order:

• Make your concerns known to your worker, his or her supervisor, and the agency diretcor, in that order.
• Follow any grievance or appeals procedure set up by your agency.
• Contact an attorney. You may be eligible for free or low-cost representation through legal services. You can find information about locating an attorney and qualifications for free legal aid in your state on the website of the American Bar Association.

If you are experiencing difficulties with a child welfare case, we suggest you go through the following steps in order:

• Make your concerns known to your worker, his or her supervisor, and the agency director, in that order.
• Follow any grievance or appeals procedure set up by your agency.
• Contact your state or local foster/adoptive parent association. They may have experience with either your agency or your problem.
• Find out if your agency is accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services (COA).
• If it is, concerns about the agency can be reported by following the COA procedures.
• Contact a child advocacy group in your state. Find a local contact through Voices for America's Children.
• Contact an attorney. You may be eligible for free or low-cost representation through legal aid services. You can find information about locating an attorney and qualifications for free legal aid in your state on the website of the American Bar Association.

You may be eligible for free or low-cost representation through legal aid services. You can find information about locating an attorney and qualifications for free legal aid in your state on the website of the American Bar Association.