Weekly Update from State Representative DeAnn Vaught

This week marked the 8th consecutive year of a heartwarming Christmas celebration at the Capitol. Legislators, Capitol staff, state agencies, and lobbyists gathered to spread holiday cheer by bringing gifts for children in foster care.

Year after year, this event is eagerly anticipated by participants as it brings much-needed joy and smiles to the faces of children in foster care. Moreover, it serves as a poignant reminder of the pressing need for loving homes to provide care.

As of now, Arkansas has over 3,800 children in foster care, each with their unique backgrounds, cultures, and families. These children, spanning various age groups from infants to teenagers, possess distinct personalities, abilities, interests, and potential.

Typically, children spend approximately 12 months in foster care. The duration of their stay is often tied to their biological parent's engagement in services aimed at ensuring the safety of their children. The primary objective of foster care is reunification, wherein a foster parent cares for a child until they can be returned home or until an alternative permanency decision is made. Placement durations vary, ranging from a few weeks to several months.

For those interested in making a lasting impact by becoming a foster parent, we encourage you to explore everychildarkansas.org. Every Child Arkansas is a collaborative initiative designed to connect Arkansans and address the needs of the state's most vulnerable children. In partnership with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Every Child Arkansas strives to offer love, care, and support to vulnerable children and families. It serves as a valuable resource to connect individuals with the right people in their community to initiate the foster parent certification process.

The CALL in Howard County Invites Local Churches to Participate in Soup Fundraiser

The CALL in Howard County will host a soup fundraiser on November 12 in conjunction with Stand Sunday.  Stand Sunday is a day set aside for churches across the United States to take a ‘stand’ for children and families impacted by foster care. The soup fundraiser gives local church congregations an opportunity to be ‘soup’er heros by making and selling soups to support the day-to-day ministry of training, equipping and supporting local foster and adoptive families. 

“Not everyone is called to foster, but everyone can do something to support local kids and families impacted by foster care,” local CALL Coordinator Holli Boyett said. “This soup fundraiser is as much about awareness as it is financial support. We ask churches to be ‘soup’er heros to make and sell their favorite soups for $8 per quart after morning service on Sunday, November 12. We provide churches with soup containers and labels.” 

Churches wishing to participate may contact Boyett to sign up. She can be reached 501-607-8035 or howardcounty@thecallinarkansas.org 

The CALL is an Arkansas based non-profit ministry whose mission is to educate, equip and encourage the Christian community to provide a future and a hope for children in foster care in Arkansas.

Weekly Update from State Representative DeAnn Vaught

Did you know that out of the over 400,000 children and teens in foster care in the United States, over 100,000 of them are waiting to be adopted? Right now, there are 292 children in Arkansas whose parents’ parental rights have been terminated and are currently seeking a forever family.

November is National Adoption Month. It is a time to increase awareness of adoption issues, bring attention to the need for adoptive families for teens in the foster care system, and emphasize the value of youth engagement. On November 3, the Arkansas Department of Human Services will be hosting a National Adoption Month Rally at the State Capitol. The event begins at noon.

In the 2021 Regular Session, the General Assembly passed Act 574, which directed the House Committee on Aging, Children, and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, and the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth to conduct a study of the best practices for reducing the number of children in foster care. Part of that study includes reviewing the length of time from termination of parental rights to adoption finalization for relative and foster parent adoptions. Significant progress has been made to shorten that time. The committee is scheduled to review a draft of the final report when they meet in November. While we continue our study and work to reduce the number of children entering the foster care system, we encourage you to explore how your family may be able to help.

Last year, the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) launched the Every Day Counts campaign as a reminder for people that every day these children and teens spend in foster care is a day too long because every day counts!

After the launch of the program, Project Zero took on the challenge to give every waiting child a short film by the end of 2021. Project Zero is a non-profit organization whose mission is to diligently and enthusiastically promote adoption through the foster care system with the ultimate goal of finding a forever family for every child who is waiting. These short films have been a critical piece in finding adoptive families for children in foster care. You can find the films and more information about each child in Project Zero’s Arkansas Heart Gallery at www.projectzero.org.

Foster care graduates celebrated at Governors Mansion

KUAR | By Ronak Patel

Young adults who grew up in foster care were honored at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion on Thursday. There were 74 young adults in the foster care system that graduated from high school or received their GED, according to a program from the event.

The graduation ceremony was hosted by the Arkansas Division of Children & Family Services. Mischa Martin, director of the Division of Children & Family Services, said in an interview the event is a way to bring together the children in the foster care system.

“We just like to come together even though they probably celebrated at the local level to do something special for them to really recognize the challenges they face to finish and make them feel valued and special. They'll walk away with a gift card and some gifts from our nonprofit as well,” Martin said.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2022-06-30/foster-care-graduates-celebrated-at-governors-mansion

Ronak Patel/KUAR News

Gov. Asa Hutchinson shares words of encouragement with graduates. Hutchinson spoke with some of the graduates before the ceremony about their future plans.

Arkansas Foster Care System, Advocates Continue to Innovate as Pandemic Eases

By Jacqueline Froelich

During the worst of the pandemic, Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services, as well as faith-based partners and nonprofits like Project Zero had to innovate to maintain their mission to help find secure homes for infants, children and teens in crisis.

https://www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-at-large/2022-05-13/arkansas-foster-care-system-advocates-continue-to-innovate-as-pandemic-eases

Courtesy/Pixabay

AUDIO: Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | Every Day Counts for Children Waiting to be Adopted

LITTLE ROCK – Today I’d like to talk about Every Day Counts, the three-month initiative of the Division of Children and Family Services and Project Zero to focus on finding adoptive families for children in Arkansas’s foster care systen.

As with everything else in life, COVID-19 hurt some of the good work we were doing in the adoption system. The courts shut down, and as a result, the number of children waiting to be adopted has increased over the past 18 months because we were not able to place them in permanent homes as quickly. The Department of Human Services conducted much of its business virtually.

To make up the lost time,  the Division of Children and Family Services and Project Zero developed the Every Day Counts campaign to emphasize the urgency of finding a home for these children. These 349 kids waiting for adoption are in foster care through no fault of their own. Every day a child spends in foster care is one day too many.

Of the 349 children, DHS has identified 162 children of them who are near adoption and hope to move them into their forever families during the ninety-day campaign.

One of the many heroes of the campaign is Christie Erwin, who founded the non-profit Project Zero ten years ago with the goal of reducing the number of children in need of adoption to zero. Christie and her husband have fostered more than fifty children and adopted two.

Christie dreams that Arkansas could be the first state without a single child waiting for adoption. She dreams of the day that instead of a waiting list with children’s names, the list will have families waiting to adopt with no children available.

On Wednesday, Christie helped throw a Sweet 16 birthday party for Dwynea, who is in the foster care system. A news crew from TV station KARK broadcast a story about the party. A photo of Dwynea and a short video about her are among the dozens of stories on Project Zero’s Arkansas Heart Gallery.

The Heart Gallery is one of Project Zero’s most important tools in finding adoptive families. Christie tells the story of a young man whose story on the Heart Gallery didn’t attract much notice. But one year, a couple who had seen his story went to an event for foster children and prospective parents with the intention of meeting him. They recognized him, spent the evening with him, and eventually adopted him.

Christie said that to see him adopted into a family after six years in a state facility and pull his life together and graduate from high school was a very special moment.

The Every Day Counts campaign will put short films about each of the children and teens waiting to be adopted on its Arkansas Heart Gallery so that families can hear their stories in their own voice.

During July and August, sixty-two children were moved to their forever families, and we hope to make even more progress in the next three months.  

In Project Zero’s math, one plus one equals zero. Place one child with one family enough times and eventually the number of children on the waiting list will be zero. I often refer to my goal of improving the quality of life for all Arkansans. That is a long-term ambition. Adoption is a way to improve the quality of life for one Arkansan – a child – right now.