Foster Care Alumni Need to Reach Out to Other Alumni & Youth in Care Today!

I’d like to share a story with you. It’s about a little boy, but it could as easily be about a little girl. Picture the following in your mind: A baby boy has just been born. He should be wrapped in his loving mother’s arms with her scent all about him and with family gathering [...]

A Christmas Prayer, Wish & Gift to All

Dear Family, Friends & Brothers/Sisters of Boys Town~ Today Christmas is less than two weeks away. By now most of us have put up our trees and decorated until they glisten, bought, wrapped and placed under the tree gifts to our family & friends, prepared our Christmas Eve/Day menus. We are ready to welcome family & [...]

More FY 2010 Foster Care/Adoption Data

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS data, U.S. Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families Because AFCARS data are being continuously updated and cleaned, the numbers reported here may differ from data reported elsewhere in report breakdown. These data reflect all AFCARS submissions by states received by June of 2011. Adoptions  [...]

FY20010 Foster Care Data

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS data, U.S. Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families (Based on data submitted by states as of June, 2011) Children in foster care on September 30, 2010? 408,425 Children exiting foster care during FY 2010? 254,114 via: Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)  51%  128,913 Living [...]

Second Book Available On Line…FREE!

After 2 yrs of procrastinating, 3 days of retyping manuscript & necessary html coding my 2nd book is now available on my web site. You can go to my main web site ofhttp://larrya.us/ and click on cover of 2nd book or go directly tohttp://larrya.us/book1.html Since they are no longer being published or available at on line stores [...]

A Response to Penn State Scandal

It has taken me over a week since the Penn State scandal broke to attempt to bring my anger under control and attempt to present a reasoned response to it. I will not say some anger may find its way into this blog entry as it remains but I will attempt to keep it under [...]

A dying man’s race to adopt

This story needs no commentary from me as it speaks for itself….except have tissues ready! By ALLEN G. BREED – AP National Writer | AP – Sat, Sep 24, 2011 SHARON, S.C. (AP) — With everything she had to do that morning, Marshall McClain could not believe his wife was wasting time making the bed. [...]

A Tribute to a Foster Mother by Riverbird

This entry was written by a young woman who spent part of her youth in foster acre. She wrote this as a tribute to her foster mother this past Mothers Day. I requested and she consented allowing me to post this on my blog as I feel it deserves an audience, Thank you Riverbird (not [...]

A Note to Present/Former Foster Youth

The note below was shared on Facebook with the Foster Care Alumni of America Group. It was such an amazing, awesome, heartfelt article that I requested permission to reprint it here on my blog. It expresses so many of the thoughts and heartaches I experienced while in foster care but also shares the positive thought [...]

Sen. John Kerry Introduces Reconnecting Youth To Prevent Homelessness Act

This week, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act to protect children in foster care from ending up on the streets. The bill features a section dedicated to protecting and providing support to LGBT youth. In a statement, Kerry said preparing for and planning responses to youth homelessness is vital, [...]

Ex-Foster Youth ‘RISE ABOVE’

I found this article interesting as well as inspirational for youth of today in the system…it lets them know they to can make it! April 21, 2011 in Washington Voices Justin Vinge, Josephine Davis and Mariah Hottell have a lot in common. They’re bright, articulate and successful college students. They’ve also been called disposable, unwanted [...]

A Suggested Gift for a Found Birthparent

Might I make a suggestion? If you find one of your birth parents and a reunion is planned I have an idea for a gift. When I met my birthmother for the first time at Newark Airport in 1986, I gave her thirty-six red roses; one for each of the thirty-six years of the life [...]

A Few Pointers When Searching for Birth Family

If you are considering a search for your birth family you may have fears as you search, but don’t let them stop you…even if you end up with a rejection or a negative reunion…you will end up a far stronger person…I know I did. Hopefully, during your search, you will find that as you grow [...]

Making Adoption Work

I found this article the other day and found it to be quite interesting. Though it deals with international adoption I feel some of the solutions at the end of the article could also assist in getting youth adopted from foster care in a more timely manner. Though I post this article it does not [...]

AFCARS Latest Number on Foster Care/Adoption from Care FY2009

As long as there is still one youth still waiting for a loving, nurturing caring, permanent home it is one too many! AFCARS Releases its Latest Numbers Released this summer, the 17th official AFCARS report reveals that, in federal fiscal year 2009 the number of U.S. children in foster care and waiting for adoption declined [...]

Photographers Capture Spirit of Children in Need of Permanent Homes

Wish a project such as this were available in cities/states across the country rather than just major cities…there is a need in smaller cities and rural areas across the country…this is at least a start! By Eden Pontz, CNN November 11, 2010 2:05 a.m. EST New York (CNN) — A picture may be worth a [...]

Florida ends ban on gay, lesbian adoptions

Florida joins the 21st century and the other 49 states plus Washington DC!! EVERY Child deserves a loving, nurturing, caring parents whether they be straight, gay or lesbian. NO child deserves to be held a “legal” orphan hostage to the system because of this issue. I know some reading this may not agree with me. However, as one [...]

California Law Now Extends Care to 21

From now on, California will keep young people in foster care until they turn 21. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a ceremonial signing of Assembly Bill 12 in Los Angeles Wednesday. The governor signed the bill on the campus of Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. He said that from now on, foster care kids [...]

Youth Aging Out of Care Increases 64% since 1999

There has been just as dramatic of an increase of youth aging out of foster care as there has been a decrease of youth in care. Since 1999 youth aging out has increased by almost 12,000 (in 99 there were roughly 17,000 & 2009 there were over 29,000). Over a quarter of a million youth [...]

Dramatic Drop of Youth in Foster Care!

I found this to be an intersting article though I disagree with some of the conclusions reached by the write and others in the article. This person doesn’t look at the budget deficits 47 of 50 states currently faced and how Family & Child Services are usually the first thing on the chopping block. Are [...]