What You Don't Know About Foster Children

By Johana Langova on April 28, 2017

We all know about foster children and youth. We read about them in books, see them in TV shows, and even know them in real life. However, we don’t realize just how tough they have it. We don’t realize that some of the stereotypes we see in television and read about are true, while others are far from the truth.

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

For example, the number of kids that spend time in foster care may astound you. In 2015, over 670,000 children were fostered. The average age of kids in care is 9, which is deplorable. These children go from home to home while their cases drag on for years, with the average being two years, until all paperwork is done and a suitable home is found. And if parental rights for these children get terminated, it means that they need to be adopted or else they stay in the system, something that many of us don’t realize. This means that thousands of children are waiting to be adopted every year and thus live in unstable environments unsuitable for them.

And, worse even, more than 20,000 youth age out of the system with no forever family and no one to be there to encourage them and comfort them when they need it. This means that they find it harder to find their way in life, and unfortunately due to this have a higher chance of becoming homeless, incarcerated or unemployed. Worst of all, this means that not many foster youth make it to college or graduate due to having no support.

This is where Together We Rise steps in. Together We Rise is an organization that reaches out to various communities and gives opportunities and help to their foster children directly, ensuring that they truly get the support they need. For example, every year they reunite hundreds of siblings that have been separated from one another during placement and take them on an adventure to Disneyland or Disney World as well as taking those children who have never been. They also organize $100 worth of shopping sprees for hundreds of foster youth during the holiday season so that they can buy things for themselves. And, since foster youth don’t tend to receive funds for new clothes, Together We Rise has pop up stores that contain any clothes a kid may need for free. These are just some of the programs that Together We Rise organizes; other programs include university scholarships, making personalized duffel bags for children, and more.

This organization is one full of people with kind hearts that want to make children smile and see them be happy as adults. For more information, be sure to check out https://www.togetherwerise.org/ to see how you can help.

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