With more than 3,000 Connecticut children in foster care, the Annie C Courtney Foundation is asking more people to step up as caregivers. To learn more about what it takes to be a foster parent, the foundation is hosting multiple information sessions throughout January. These take place over Zoom and are scheduled for 6 p.m. — 8 m. on Jan. 17, 22, 25 and 30, and 8:30 a.m. — 10:30 a.m. Jan. 20.
Read the Annie C Courtney Foundation’s full press release below:
The Annie C Courtney Foundation is actively looking for caregivers for children and teenagers in CT foster care. By caring for a child, you help the child and family heal while enriching your own life. “I cannot believe I get to do this job,” states one CT licensed caregiver. “The satisfaction I get is seeing the kids I care for start to blossom. I love seeing a child’s self-confidence grow. The most amazing thing is when a child starts to feel safe and secure, and you can see the worry and stress melt way.”
Won’t you consider opening your heart and your home to a child or youth? We urgently need care providers for children of all ages, particularly those on the autism spectrum as well as teenagers and sibling groups.
When you provide this care to children, you are supported with a vast array of resources. Foster families receive assistance with medical and dental care, and a daily stipend to cover the costs associated with caring for a child. Social workers visit regularly to provide support to families and the children under their care. Additional services are provided for kids who need them.
“I missed having children in my home,” maintains another foster mom. “I love being a ‘mom’ again. And I find it so rewarding to have been a part of the kids’ lives when they needed it most. I miss them when they leave but I always try to stay connected with them and their families after they move on.” Foster families are encouraged to maintain ongoing relationships with children and their families – relationships that continue long past the day a child leaves your home. It is one of the many rewards associated with being a foster parent.
If you enjoy fostering children’s strengths and dreams; fostering stability and resilience; fostering empathy and caring in children and youth…this may be the best decision you’ll ever make.
The primary goal of foster care is to provide a nurturing home for children while their biological families develop and enhance the skills needed to get their children safely home. These skills will also sustain their family long after reunification. Foster parents don’t just foster children, they foster biological families, too, and offer support and encouragement to parents and children as they become healthy and whole again.
Information meetings take less than 2 hours and are conducted 2 – 3 times per week on the Zoom platform. This month classes are being held from 6p-8p on Jan 17, 22, 25 and 30th; 8:30a-10:30a Jan. 20.
For more information or to register for an information meeting, contact Annie C Courtney Foundation at 475 – 235-2184. Annie C works in partnership with the Department of Children and Families to find foster parents for over 3,000 children in CT foster care. Please check the Annie C website for more information on foster care, kinship care and adoption: www.anniec.org.
