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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Where's the Love: Illinoisans Campaign for Foster Children

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Monday, May 7, 2012   

CHICAGO - May is National Foster Care month, a time to recognize that children need loving families and to acknowledge the care those families provide, and children's advocates say there is reason to be hopeful. Over the last fifteen years the state has reduced the number of children in foster care by more than 60 percent by focusing on prevention and permanent placements. Still, more than 18,000 Illinois children need homes, and advocates say many misconceptions about foster care need to be cleared up.

Ruth Jajko, statewide director of foster care and adoption services for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, points out such a wrong idea.

"A lot of people have the myth that people get into foster care, you know, quote, 'for the money.' And that couldn't be further from the truth, because you really can't raise a kid on what you receive as a foster parent."

LSSI has joined several other agencies in Illinois in supporting the "Where's the Love" campaign, which encourages people to become foster parents or mentors or to volunteer their time in other ways to help foster children.

Jajko says many foster children need people who can help them to heal from traumatic events and to learn to trust again.

"The parents who are successful really have a motivation to really help a child. They are those folks who really want to make a difference and want to give back to the community or to a child."

Jajko herself has been a foster parent, for children she has since adopted.

When Chicagoans Angela Pestano and her husband took in a foster daughter three years ago, they had one thought in mind.

"There are so many children in the world that need a home and that need love. If you can, why not give them that?"

Pestano and her husband are planning to adopt their daughter, who Pestano describes as a delightful three-year-old.

"She's bright and she's funny and she's fun. It makes me feel sad that her mom is missing out on the wonderful person that she is."

In the past, foster parents were discouraged from adopting their foster children. While there's still a focus on reuniting families, foster parents these days are encouraged to consider adoption in the interest of getting children in permanent placement.

More information is at lssi.org and at tinyurl.com/7jnz2na.




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