Click here to watch the Walk Me Home video:
Walk Me HomeWalk Me Home is on Saturday and we hope to see you there! It is really important that we recognize National Foster Care Month and honor those who open their homes and provide foster care. In America, there are over 500,000 children in foster care and in WV there are approximately 4,000 children in the state's care. Please help us to recognize the compassionate people who make a difference in the lives of children by serving as foster parents, relative caregivers, mentors, advocates, social workers and volunteers. Thank to these people, many children and teens will either safely reunite with their parents, be care for by relatives, or be adopted by loving families.
There are approximately 1,000 children in WV who are legally eligible to be adopted. Some of those children as well as adoptive/foster families are featured in a video we have made that features the Walk Me Home theme song. To view this video, please click on the link at the top of this article.
We thank all of those who work to better the lives of children. And while a lot is being done to help our youth, more help is needed. According to information provided by the National Association of Foster Parents, if nothing changes by 2020:
- Nearly 14 million confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect will be reported
- 22,500 children will die of abuse or neglect, most before their fifth birthday
- More than 9,000,000 children will experience the foster care system
- More than 300,000 children will age of our foster care system, in poor health and ill-prepared for success in higher education, technical college or the workforce
- 99,000 former foster youth, who aged out of the system, can expect to experience homelessness.
So please, if you haven't already registered or sponsored a walker, visit
http://www.walkmehome.org/ to do so!
We can't wait to see you all on Saturday!
Pictured above: Kaitlyn Boyles, daughter of Rita and Bob Boyes, at Walk Me Home 2010
