Celebrities Step Up for Kids in Foster Care

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.

Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, a time to draw attention to the needs of thousands of children in Los Angeles alone and throughout the country that for whatever reason leave their homes and are entrusted to others to provide for their care. With great reluctance, a child is removed from the care of parents and family. The principle reason, of course, is to assure the safety and well-being of the child. But regardless of the reason for removal of the child from the family, foster care, as necessary as it is, can not be the solution, but rather a resource until the child can be restored to the family and community.

For too long we have demonized the families of the children served by the foster care system, judging them to be inadequate and indeed harmful to their children. But the truth is that these families, more often than not, are painfully aware of their challenges and with some assistance want nothing more than to see their children back within their homes. The role of foster care providers like Hillsides is to be a resource for these families and to assist them as they move along a path that will allow their families to be reunited. No matter what trauma a child may have experienced within their family, they want to be reunited--they want to go home.

The challenges are great for these families and, at times, they are significant enough to make it unsafe for a child to be cared for by a parent. Sometimes parents can not serve as the principle care giver, but it is rare that within the family unit there is not a relative that can indeed serve as a fine caregiver, allowing the child to be restored to the family. The value of a child growing up within a familiar and familial setting far outweighs the fine services they may enjoy in an institutional setting.

Foster care, whether offered by a family or in a group setting as we do at Hillsides, is an indispensible resource for the children and youth we serve and their families. It is not a substitute for the family, but rather an important component of care that provides not only a safe place, but also an array of services that helps the child to improve and move along a path that will lead to a stable future. Services are not only offered to the child, but the whole family is engaged to assist with the task of strengthening it to be able to, once again, welcome the child home.

This mission is embraced not only by our staff of extraordinarily gifted professionals,  but our community of supporters. With your assistance, we are a tremendous resource for all those we serve. 

Celebrity Experiences Auctioned on Foster Soles

At least a quarter of the $2.5 million that we raise each year is generated by special events. One event that is easy and fun to participate in is Foster Soles, an on-line auction of celebrity items conducted on eBay.com during National Foster Care Awareness Month. Because it is a virtual auction we encourage everyone to utilize social media links to promote the event. It is not only a chance to bid on some one-of-a-kind items, but more importantly, it gives us an opportunity to advocate for the children and youth we serve. It doesn’t cost anything to participate when we share items with our friends via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail, and provides a great benefit to Hillsides.

So please check out the website, http://celebrity.ebay.com/dr-drew-pinsky, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky of “Dr. Drew” on HLN, “Celebrity Rehab” and “Loveline,” and pass it on to your contacts.

Below is a pictorial of the experiences we are offering in addition to celebrity autographed shoes! Don’t miss this opportunity to bid on your favorite celebrity item or raise awareness of foster care issues.