Fostering Hope

Thank you for seeking more information about Fostering Hope Foundation. I met executive director, Dr. Angela Caron this past winter at a dinner that she organized and was moved and amazed by what I learned that evening. Foster parents are truly unsung heros. However, even as extraordinary as they are, they depend on reliable support from people who truly understand their challenges. When Jim Colton had the idea to expand on what he did with the Ben Cox 155 with the Hundred Hole Hike, I decided I wanted to participate for the benefit of Fostering Hope. I am pleased to try to support what they do and bring awareness to foster care.

According to government statistics:

There were over 400,000 children in foster care as of September, 2010.

More than 30% of child fatalities in America are attributed exclusively to neglect.

50% of children in foster care have chronic medical problems.

25% of foster care alumni suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fostering Hope is a program that recruits small teams of people from communities of faith to offer assistance and support to a foster family thus helping them to magnify the care and support they can give to the foster children in their home. The job of foster parents isn’t easy, and isn’t what most of us could do. This explains why there is such a shortage of families to offer their homes to children who need a safe family to live with temporarily-perhaps even permanently. Foster parents handle more than what is required of most families, and do so because they want children who have been abused or neglected to experience a loving family setting to help them heal from their chaotic beginnings. Without the support that Fostering Hope provides, many children would have to live in institutionalized settings. With the professional training and facilitation offered by Fostering Hope, foster parents can persist in their unique calling, and the children in their home are able to overcome their traumatic beginnings in order to lead more productive lives.