 IT TAKES A VILLAGEThe beginning of the year is a wonderful time to reflect. Last year brought many blessings to our organization and to the foster families we serve. With your help, support, and generosity we were able to YES to 100's of requests. Thank you from our hearts to yours. Cheers to another year of co-creating a compassionate foster care system. If you love what we do, join us. With a monthly donation, (less than a daily cup of coffee), you help us do more, serve more, and grow our mission. Together we can build the compassionate system of foster care that our children deserve.  Our Inaugural Golf Tournament was a great success! We thank all the sponsors, volunteers, board members and community for making this possible. We are already looking forward to next year. Our 1st place winners and sponsors, Team Armored.  Do you know a former foster youth 18-26 that could use some help navigating adulthood? Or maybe a family that could use some help. (Help on the front end keeps children in their homes and prevents the need for foster care.) The Florida Department of Children & Families has a Helpline and services ready to help. Please save this # and be prepared to bring HOPE to someone in need.   At Fostering Hope Florida, we have served the foster care community across the Tampa Bay area since 2004. Our mission is to create a compassionate system of foster care that honors and protects the rights of children. We also aim, through our various organizational programs, to reduce trauma for foster youth, keep sibling groups together, and influence positive change at the local and state levels.
Calling ALL Golfers – Save The Date There’s some exciting things in the works for Fostering Hope Florida...Our 1st Charity Golf Tournament will be November 4, 2022. Be sure to add it to your calendar. Sign up available in July from our website.
 Love Grows Here Spring is here! You can create a colorful garden to enjoy all summer long while supporting your favorite local charity. Come together with us by planting the seeds of beauty and color as we help children blossom through the act of charity.
Each purchase through the link below will enable us to raise money so we can continue helping our local foster families all while you enjoy the beauty of a large variety of bulbs/seeds for your garden, landscape, flower pots, or window boxes. This is a great way to get your littles involved too, and witness love in bloom as they care for their own living flowers and plants. To support Fostering Hope, fill out the seller information as noted below: First name: Cindy M Last name: Fay  Let us reflect as 2021 comes to a close, and welcome in a new and prosperous 2022 for all.
A message from our founder: 2021 while an improvement over 2020, brought with it it’s own challenges. As a non-profit, Fostering Hope still struggled to raise money with COVID limitations still in place. Families already at-risk in our community, were the hardest hit and the result was an increase in kids coming into foster care. Our already struggling local lead Child Welfare agency, Eckerd crumbled under the pressure. Children were sleeping in offices, bouncing from home to home, sick and hurting children weren’t getting services, workers lost track of the kids on their caseloads, and foster homes were over-crowded and plagued by the rampant spread of the virus. In November, our State Department of Children & Families announced that Eckerd was out, contract terminated effective December 31st. This lead to a month of confusion, unanswered calls, child welfare workers wondering if they would be employed in 2022, foster parents left to handle things on their own, court hearings cancelled, dozens of local agencies, like Fostering Hope, not knowing what would become of their partnership with Eckerd (all contracts were scheduled to terminate December 31st) and most of all, our community’s children all at a greater risk than ever. |
Archives
February 2023
Categories |
RSS Feed