HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025 May Foster Care AwarenessCOLUMBIA CH HEIGHTS
PROCLAMATION
Foster Care Awareness Month: May 2025
Foster Care Awareness Month raises visibility about the experiences of children and youth
in foster care, while honoring the individuals who support them —foster and biological
families, child welfare professionals, mentors, policymakers, and community members.
Each plays a vital role in helping young people find safety, stability, and connection.
Foster care provides a safe, temporary home for children and teens who cannot remain with
their families due to abuse, neglect, or other serious challenges. Whenever possible, the goal
is reunification with their biological families. When it is not, the focus becomes finding a
stable, permanent home through adoption or guardianship. Behind every placement is a
story of hardship —and hope.
As of 2025, nearly 390,000 children are in foster care in the United States. Each one enters
the system through no fault of their own, often carrying the weight of trauma, loss, and
uncertainty —but also the potential for healing and success when given the proper support.
The need for foster families has only grown since the pandemic. Foster parents come from
all walks of life — single, married, with or without children, grandparents, or individuals
hoping to adopt. What matters most is being at least 21, completing the licensure process,
and having a safe space, an open heart, and a willingness to walk with a child through their
healing journey. Successful foster parents support a child's well-being, invest in their
future, accept their past, and work as part of a team.
This month, we express deep gratitude to the foster families who open their hearts and
homes, to biological parents striving for reunification, and to the professionals and
volunteers who walk beside foster youth every day. Most of all, we honor the incredible
strength and resilience of the children and youth in foster care, whose courage inspires us
all.
I, Amada Marquez Simula, Mayor of Columbia Heights, proclaim May 2025 as Foster
Care Awareness Month in Columbia Heights and encourage all residents to support and
stand in solidarity with foster youth, their families, and those who care for them.
Am da Marquez S ula, Mayor
May 27, 2025