May is Foster Care Month, a time to celebrate the hundreds of foster and kinship foster families in Vermont who provide safe, nurturing homes for children while they can’t be at home. It is with deep appreciation that the Family Services Division of the Department for Children and Families thanks them for their generosity, caring and willingness to “answer the call,” no matter when it comes.
Thank you for all you do to keep children safe, support parents and help families stay connected. By opening your hearts and homes to children in need, you help us keep local kids local. Without you, children would have to live outside of their communities and away from their schools and all that’s familiar.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to raise awareness of the need for more foster families. The Middlebury Family Services office has an urgent need to families willing and able to care of infants and toddlers, children with special needs, sibling groups and teens. They must also be willing to fully support ongoing visits with the birth parents.
We also need folks who can provide respite care, which is much like foster care but for shorter periods of time. Respite provides foster parents with breaks so they can get things done, relax and re-energize.
For more information, please contact Laurie Mumley, resource coordinator, at 388-4660, or visit us on the web at fostercare.vt.gov.
Andrea Grimm
Director
Department for Children and Families
Middlebury Family Services
Middlebury