Two Men Who Made a Difference!

Readers of my blog or my book know I spent what I considered the most formative years of my youth (age 11-18) as one of Father Flanagan’s boys at world renowed Boys Town, Nebraska. I consider those years my most formative as they are the years where I would learn things and have some folks [...]

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 [...]

Boys Town Alumni Honor Their Fallen

It is rare I post a blog entry that does not deal with foster care or adoption. However, today I must make an exception. This past weekend (July 29-31, 2011) Boys Town Alumni returned to the place they call home for a reunion. It was a time of sharing memories of days gone by, renewing friendships [...]

American Airlines Trip from Hell

This blog is very off topic for me. However, due to what this trip was like due to American Airlines I have to share it wide and far. I received somewhat of an early Christmas present from one of my bosses. The trip was originally to be a business trip to New York City. However, [...]

North Dakota says: Don’t Put Children in Foster Care!

This is the state where I now live. By: Andi Murphy, INFORUM Published August 30 2010 North Dakota is at the forefront of a new trend in the way foster care is administered: Don’t put children in foster care. The idea is to help families help themselves so they can keep their children, rather than [...]

A Loving Tribute to My Foster Mom for Mothers Day

This  weekend celebrate Mothers Day. Though we should celebrate mothers each and every day of the year we set aside one day each year to make special celebrations. Much is made of Mothers Day for birth moms and adoptive moms but foster moms are usally forgotten in the media as they consider them temporary and not [...]

Couple Inspire 50 Adoptions in One Neighborhood

Gimundo: By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on April 28 2010 In 1996, Jaci and Eric Hasemeyer already had three children, and had believed their family was complete. But when Jaci, a P.E. teacher at a Riverside, California elementary school, handed out coupons for a local skating rink one day, the response she received from a 5th [...]

It Just Takes One: Foster Mother Mollie Jelks Raises 36 Foster Youth

A great story…good for a Mothers Day Memory: HuffPost   |  Erica Liepmann Posted: 05- 3-10 06:00 AM   After spending 22 years of her life working in mortgage banking, Mollie Jelks admits she never found the sense of fulfillment she longed for. When her Citibank office relocated to St. Louis, Jelks wasn’t willing to follow. [...]

President Issues Proclamation for Nat’l Foster Care Month

Presidential Proclamation-National Foster Care Month A PROCLAMATION Nearly a half-million children and youth are in foster care in America, all entering the system through no fault of their own. During National Foster Care Month, we recognize the promise of children and youth in foster care, as well as former foster youth. We also celebrate the [...]

From Dark Childhood to Foster Care to Fulbright Scholor!

This is a great story: By Jennifer Brooks • THE TENNESSEAN • April 24, 2010 It would be easy to take one look at Kaitlen Howell’s past and write off her future.   Born into a violently abusive home, she was pulled out of school in first grade and never sent back. She spent her [...]

7 Yr. Old Foster Youth Hangs Himself!

Personal Note: When I read this article for the first time I cried for Gabriel. At age 7 he decided life was no longer worth living. It brought back to me memories of my own years in foster care. By the age of 10 I had been in foster care since the day of my [...]

Bitter Life Teaches Foster Youth to NOT Limit Herself!

I think it is important for foster youth or foster alumni to read and hear about others who have gome through the system who have made it, who have not proclaimed themselves as victims. Therefore I was delighted when I read the article velow in the Idaho Statesmen and felt the need to share it [...]