May being National Foster Care Month, I asked Erica Schultz, our Foster Care Licensing Specialist, what she would like to tell people about our programs. Two things immediately came to her mind.

First, the goals of Shelter’s Foster Care Programs are different from adoption agencies. The purpose of adoption agencies is to facilitate adoptions between birth parents and adoptive parents. Adoption is a forever commitment.

Foster Care programs aim to place children in safe, stable, and nurturing environments until they can be reunited with their biological families. When reunification isn’t possible for safety or other reasons, adoption may be one option, though fostering is typically a temporary commitment.

Shelter has three programs:

• Emergency Foster Care is the oldest program of its kind in the Northwest Suburbs and can be accessed by any child in the community, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This service is for families experiencing a crisis that impacts their ability to care for their children, such as eviction or divorce.
• Home-of-Relative Foster Care gives children a sense of identity and belonging. Foster Care caseworkers will work with family members, like an aunt or grandparents, to ensure a safe and secure environment while working to reunite families whenever possible.
• Traditional Foster Care can be arranged when there are no relatives available, and a longer-term placement is appropriate. Foster care is not a permanent solution, and caseworkers strive to reunify children and adolescents with their families whenever possible.

 Erica’s second message is that while most foster parents want cuddly babies, kids of all ages want a family to love.

Honore is a 17-year old girl with a happy disposition and a passion for life. At 14, she escaped to the U.S. and became a victim of human trafficking by a relative. She stayed at Shelter’s Jennings Home for Girls then was placed with a foster family where she found the safety, stability, and nurturing care she needed.

Honore has thrived with her foster family. She will soon be graduating from high school, and having received several scholarships, she’ll be attending college. Sadly, her foster family is moving far away, and though she’d be welcome to move with them, Honore wants to stay in the environment she has come to know and where she’ll attend school. Her wish is for a second foster family in Chicago.

Erica said, “Honore is like so many kids her age. She doesn’t need any specialized care or support services. She just wants a family to go home to during holidays and where she feels she belongs and knows she is wanted.”

 If you’ve ever thought of opening your heart and home to a child, or you’re simply interested in learning more about foster care, visit our website at www.shelter-inc.org, or call us at 847-255-8060.