Web Site Recruits People Ready to Change the Lives of Foster Children
December 13, 2004 — As part of its ongoing efforts
to offer a promising future to foster children throughout the country,
the Freddie Mac Foundation has funded FosterLinks.org,
a new Web site that features children in need of adoption and helps
guide people through the sometimes overwhelming process of helping
improve the lives of foster children. Visitors to the site meet
foster children, learn about the system in an educational section
and explore different ways to become involved in a foster child's
life, including adoption. Links connect to programs, grants and
opportunities that are available throughout the country.
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The Web site, which will be regularly updated with new information
and children, was created as a call to action in conjunction with
the Foundation-sponsored documentary The
Beat Down Club, a PBS film that exposes the harsh realities
of the foster care system and depicts the system through the eyes
of children and youth who have lived in it. Don Horwitz, the film’s
director, manages FosterLinks.org.
“After interviewing and speaking to hundreds of foster children
for the making of The Beat Down Club, one thing has become
apparent to me – it only takes one person to literally change
the outcome of a foster child's life,” says Horwitz. “It
is my hope that fosterlinks.org will enable and guide that one person
who is willing and ready to help but may not know how to get started.”
“The Foundation was thrilled to help make The Beat Down
Club a reality, and funding fosterlinks.org has added to our
excitement about reaching more people who can help foster children,”
says Maxine B. Baker, president and CEO of the Freddie Mac Foundation.
“Although there is no substitute for a permanent home, there
are so many ways besides adopting that people can help foster children
and get involved in their lives. This Web site guides those who
are ready to become a foster parent or adopt, but also the many
people who can offer help in other ways.”
Nationwide, nearly 550,000 children are in foster care and 126,000
of those are available for adoption. Children generally stay in
the system for almost three years before either being reunited with
their families or adopted. More than 20,000 children a year never
get to leave the system – they remain in foster care until
they “age out,” never having experienced a stable environment
in which to be nurtured, grow and learn.
Fosterlinks.org and The Beat Down Club are two of the
Freddie Mac Foundation’s latest tools in meeting its mission
to help strengthen families by preventing child abuse and neglect,
helping find foster children permanent homes, and developing youth.
In addition to sponsoring its signature programs – Healthy
Families America, Wednesday's Child television program that helps
foster children find permanent homes and J.C. Nalle Community School
– the Foundation supports the community by providing funds
for various non-profit organizations serving children and their
families.
In addition to the Freddie Mac Foundation, current fosterlinks.org
partners include National Court Appointed Special Advocates, National
Foster Parent Association, The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption,
the Child Welfare League of America, and the Congressional Coalition
on Adoption Institute.
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