Foster Care Aware continued to add to its growing library of resources and launched FosterCareAware.org as a place to find it all. New in 2022 was the publication of four new digital resource guides on how to make the most of advocating: 1) for those thinking of fostering, 2) for existing foster parents 3) for social workers and 4) for community volunteers and supporters. With our Foster Care Aware events, our outreach campaign, and digital resource guides we reached nearly 4000 people.

Check out all of our available guides and read up on how you can help.

We expanded our YMCA partnership this year in several remarkably impactful ways. First, we expanded the age eligibility to include children 3 years and older. Previously our minimum age requirement was 6 years old. The impact of this change was to expand access to the benefits of the YMCA for our foster parents, to promote whole-family wellness. When we look at the factors that lead to placement stability, parent wellness and self-care top the list. Furthermore, in a bold move to help ensure the very best case management for children and families in the foster care system, we opened our YMCA program to our foster care social workers as well. Social workers are the front line responders and principal advocates for vulnerable families and we feel it is important to support and care for them so they can show up with their very best for families in the foster care system. The YMCA has been an incredible partner in helping to underwrite these memberships—showing that they are the “Care” in Foster Care!

Camps of all kinds were in extraordinary demand this year. Through the incredible support of our generous donors, TFFC sponsored 297 camp sessions for 125 campers in 2022. That’s a record-breaking camp season for TFFC and a 20% growth from the previous year. We not only sent children to camps during the summer, but new to the program this year, we also added school’s out camp and winter break camps to the mix.

Development

Investment

As we move forward into 2023 and beyond, TFFC has three core areas of focus: expanding geographic access, whole family wellness, and preventing entry into foster care. With as many as 7000 children interacting with the foster care system in Virginia each year, we are continually working to expand our programming into new geographic regions to make sure that all children in the guardianship of the Commonwealth have access to the resources they need and an environment in which they can thrive. Creating this environment requires federal, state, and local resources, as well as community-based partners, like TFFC and our supporters, all working together with foster parents and families of origin in ways that are conducive to developing healthy families. As we say often, it takes a village, and for those in foster care, it takes a broadly reaching, emotionally intelligent, strategic village.