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Mayor Fenty's Press Conference Launch of Foster Care Parent Recruitment Campaign

Thank you, Mayor Fenty, for your commitment to the District's children and to strengthening families and communities.

I'd also like to recognize Dr. Gerald and CFSA for spearheading this partnership. We're especially excited about this year's campaign. You've found new, creative ways to reach out to prospective foster parents who will care for our children.

Thank you Dr. Goldberg [Post Permanency Family Center Director], your staff and Adoptions Together for welcoming us here today. In 2004, the Freddie Mac Foundation was privileged to partner with the District to support the Center's creation and help adoptive families. The only one of its kind in D.C., the Center provides free services to stabilize new families after adoptions take place.

The Freddie Mac Foundation is delighted to be part of this campaign to find caring homes for children, at such a critical time in their lives.

A nurturing home can transform a child's life. Foster parents offer children a life line when they need it most. And they offer them the chance for a better future. My wife and I adopted both a sister and brother from foster care. So we know first hand the difference a foster parent can make to a child's well-being.

At the Foundation, our mission is to make home a place where children and families thrive.

Through programs like the Freddie Mac Foundation's Wednesday's Child, we help find adoptive homes for children in foster care. Locally, our partners include NBC-4, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and CFSA. Together with our partners in D.C. and in cities across the nation, we've helped find permanent homes for more than 1400 children. These children are often considered the hardest to place as they may be older, in sibling groups or have special needs.

By investing in nonprofits in our region, the Foundation helps support children in foster care and promote adoption. One of our signature programs, the Freddie Mac Foundation Heart Gallery, is a compelling portrait exhibit featuring children waiting to be adopted. The Heart Gallery travels around the region, and can also be found online at FreddieMacFoundation.org. We're pleased to partner with Adoptions Together in this effort.

Whether providing homeless families stable housing and critical services, or finding adoptive parents for children in foster care, our partnerships and goals are all about homes for children and families.

The campaign we've helped launch today is shaped by the contributions of DMC [Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC] and local foster Mom Phyllis Wilson. DMC, through his talent and celebrity, and his own adoption story, is championing our cause in such a meaningful, powerful way.

Ms. Wilson, you too are the inspiring face and voice of this campaign – as a foster parent several times over, and a soon to be adoptive mom. You are making a real difference in children's lives and in our community. And we can already see the ripple effect – your impact on future generations. I understand several of your grown children are now training to become foster parents. What a wonderful family tradition: I can't think of a better one.

Thank you all for joining us today during National Foster Care Month. The Freddie Mac Foundation is privileged to join Mayor Fenty and all our partners to find caring homes for D.C.'s children.