Foster Care Awareness Month

It is not lost on me that this month is both National Foster Care month, and Mental Health Awareness month. Since this page is about foster care and adoption, of course I am going to highlight it :) Nation wide, there can be up to 400,000 kids in foster care at any given time. If that number seems high to you, that's because it is.

It’s May. May is a busy time. It’s the winding down of most schools for the summer, which brings end of the year programs, awards, and graduations. It’s the “unofficial” beginning of the summer and planning fun summer activities, Memorial Day, and how can we forget Mother’s Day. So. Much. Stuff. And let’s not forget the many different causes, cancers, other observances, and other things that have come to be recognized each month. These recognitions have become very common place. And yes, there are many things that should be brought to our attention each month Two that occur this month really hit home for me. Foster Care awareness and mental health awareness. Well, you can all guess the reasons why for foster care. It’s how my family came to be and the method by which it will grow. But Mental Health. Let’s talk about that for a minute. At first, it may seem odd that foster care awareness and mental health awareness fall in the same month. But, the more I think about it, the more appropriate I realize it is. There are many, many times foster care and mental health go hand in hand. Kids that come into foster care are not there for insignificant reasons. There are usually huge, ongoing circumstances that have caused a child to come into care. Abuse, neglect, parents who are on drugs. These kids have been exposed to these things, often for years before it is discovered, and authorities can intervene. While this abuse is occurring, the young child’s brain is still developing. Studies have shown that these type of experiences in childhood (Adverse Childhood Experiences; ACES) effect the brain and its ability to grow and develop properly. So, when the brain doesn’t grow properly, chemical imbalances can occur in the brain, causing mental health issues. Usually one of the biggest things associated with mental health for kids in foster care is trauma. There can be up to 440,000 children in foster care in the U.S. Did you read that???? That is close to half a million kids!!!! Out of that almost half a million, almost 80 percent of kids can have mental health issues. For comparison, only about 20 percent of the general population has mental health issues. And please do not assume that these are minor issues, or a lack of discipline. These children have seen and experienced things that would cause most adults to breakdown mentally. They are small children who have faced huge adult like experiences without the brain capacity to process it correctly. Being a foster parent isn’t easy. Being a kid in foster care isn’t easy either. But when see you that foster kid thriving, it makes it all worthwhile.