May is Foster Care Awareness Month and it is important for us to
make note of the more than 500,000 children nationally and 35,000 locally who
are served through the foster care system and receive child welfare services.
These numbers are especially overwhelming when you consider how difficult it is
for a child to be separated from family and those things that are most
familiar. A day for a child can seem like an eternity, let alone weeks, months,
and years apart from family.
The decision to separate a family is a difficult one to make,
but there are circumstances that warrant such a drastic action. For the
children impacted by these decisions, we must provide safe, caring alternatives
that are responsive to their needs and dedicated to their best interest. The
foster care system at its best does just this and serves as an indispensable resource
for both child and family to get through a challenging time.
The foster care system is often the focus of negative press.
Inevitably the failure of an individual foster parent or an organization
serving foster children can skew the community’s perspective of how effective
foster care is. The truth, however, is that the vast majority of children and
families served through the child welfare system appreciate how essential these
services are in order to assure safety, well-being, and ultimately a stable
future.
There is never enough we can do for these children, youth, and
families, and as a result what we offer must be the best. No one organization
can take on the responsibility of being such a resource without the
extraordinary support of a generous community.
Once again during this month of celebrating foster care
awareness, Hillsides is promoting a unique and fun way of generating
much-needed support for the services we offer to children, youth, and families.
This fundraiser, the Fifth Annual Hillsides Foster Soles, is an online auction
of celebrity autographed items. The auction was launched on Wednesday, May 22,
with a cocktail reception at Bar Celona in Pasadena. Co-chairing this event is
Dr. Drew and Susan Pinsky, who have been supporting us for years and stepped
right up to garner celebrity support for the auction.
Celebrity items can be viewed on eBay. The auction will last
through the first week of June as we are continuing to list celebrity items
throughout the weekend. To learn more about the auction, visit our website, www.hillsides.org. I encourage you to share
this event with your family and friends. It’s an easy way to support what we
do, bid on a few items you may want or give a gift to someone.
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