Foster care is serious business for Michele Burnette. She travels two hours from St. Mary?s County to attend monthly meetings of the new Maryland State Foster Parent Association.
She makes the trip because she has a passion for foster care and for organizations that help recruit and retain good foster families in Maryland.
Ms. Burnette, who also is president of the Tri-County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association in Southern Maryland, exemplifies the spirit of commitment that has driven caring people across Maryland to establish an organization that gives voice to the state?s foster parents.
Not everyone can be like Ms. Burnette, and not everyone is right for foster care. But May is a good time to reach out to adults who believe they can make a difference in a child?s life because this is National Foster Care Month.
Foster parents are the backbone of our child welfare system because we try to walk children through the most difficult times in their lives and stay with them until they are either adopted or reunited with their parents.
I became a foster parent because I believe I have something positive to offer to children. I?m affiliated with the State Foster Parent Association because I believe there is strength in numbers.
Our association began on June 18, 2005, when officials of the Maryland Department of Human Resources and foster parents from all over the state met at a summit to consider how Maryland residents could be encouraged to become foster parents.
There were two notable outcomes from the summit. First, foster parents and local Department of Social Services personnel exchanged ideas from two differing perspectives and developed an extensive needs assessment of current foster parents. The second outcome was to explore the feasibility of establishing a new statewide foster parent organization to support DHR?s Social Services Administration andfoster parents? concerns.
That has happened. A few of the goals of the State Foster Parent Association are to support and mentor foster parents, help train foster parents, support the recruitment and retention of foster parents and offer the public a foster parent?s perspective on child welfare issues.
At this point the association has foster parent representatives from 10 jurisdictions: Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Frederick, Harford, Prince George?s, St. Mary?s, Wicomico, and Washington counties. We are inviting the directors of all jurisdictions to encourage at least one foster parent from their area who is interested in becoming a statewide advocate to become a member of the association.
Foster Parent Association members are committed child advocates on the local level working within foster parent associations and councils to support their community foster parents and children. We offer an opportunity to make a positive impact in communities across Maryland.
Although the State Foster Parent Association has been in existence for only a few months it has been very active in offering informed input during various Social Services Administration meetings.
Above all, we are reaching out to the public, to you. We are trying to make a difference in a child?s life and in our communities through foster care. Our children need positive influences in their lives. If this is you, think about joining us.
If you would like to make suggestions, offer support or assist in the recruitment of new members for the State Foster Parent Association, please contact the SSA liaison, Judith Eveland at 410-767-7910.
Sam Macer is a Baltimore-area parent who volunteers with various educational and child welfare organizations. As a National PTA trained “parent involvement specialist,” he speaks to parents about the importance of being involved in the educational process. As amember of the Baltimore City and the State Foster Care Associations he supports efforts to recruit and retain good homes for children in need of care. He can be reached at [email protected].
