To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Nick Honey, 565-4343
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Recommended Action:
Title
Adopt a Gold Resolution declaring May 2021 Foster Parent Recognition Month in Sonoma County.
End
Executive Summary:
The month of May has been designated as National Foster Parent Recognition Month. The Board of Supervisors is requested to recognize all Sonoma County caregivers who have taken on the invaluable role of caring for infants, children, and teens that are separated from their families due to abuse or neglect.
Discussion:
Excellent parenting is the most important intervention that we can provide to children. When parents are unable to care for their children, foster parents or relative caregivers step in to provide loving and committed care to meet a child’s needs in partnership with the child welfare system. Children become part of the family for as long as they need out-of-home care. When possible, caregivers partner with the biological parents to provide support and mentorship. When children cannot be returned home safely, caregivers may provide permanency, including adoption or guardianship. Foster parenting requires patience, consistency, flexibility, and a sense of humor.
Foster Parent Recognition Month acknowledges the dedicated caregivers in Sonoma County who provide around the clock love and care to children and keep them integrated in our local communities. In January of this year, 193 County foster homes including relative families cared for 225 children. 79 Foster Family Agency homes had 99 children in their care. 26 children were adopted and 51 children were in a guardianship home in 2020.
Foster parents’ work is difficult and challenging, but their dedication has changed the lives of many in our community. They ensure that children get to their therapy and medical appoints, support children as they struggle with attending virtual school, and console a child who is sad because they are missing their birth family. They also get to help a child learn to tie their shoes, celebrate milestones such birthdays or graduations and read a child’s favorite bedtime story. Through their skilled care, children can grow and heal. Even during the pandemic, our foster parents have welcomed children and youth into their homes and families and have continued to provide loving care.
The Human Services Department values the role of the local community partners who help support and develop new caregivers including TLC Children’s Services; Alternative Family Services; Seneca; Family, Youth and Children’s Services; Juvenile Probation; and Lilliput Children’s Services. Through our collaborative efforts, over 300 new families have been approved by the County or local foster family agencies since 2017. Yet, the need is still there to continue to recruit and support new families so that every child who enters the child welfare system has the opportunity to be in a family home.
We appreciate the generosity of these community members who step up to take on the very important role of opening their homes to care for Sonoma County children and youth. The Board is grateful for the compassionate care that foster parents provide to the community’s most vulnerable children.
Prior Board Actions:
In May of each year the Board of Supervisors has expressed appreciation for the outstanding contributions our caregivers make in caring for our dependent children by declaring the month of May Foster Parent Recognition Month in Sonoma County.
Previous Board dates include:
5/14/2019
5/8/2018
5/2/2017
5/3/2016
Fiscal Summary
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
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Attachments:
Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None