Dear Friends of FMC,
This summer, the Fostering Media Connections staff has been hard at work on two major projects that we are excited to roll out this fall. Both are aimed at bringing clarity and scrutiny to key aspects of the child welfare system: foster care recruitment and retention, and federal policy.
We're taking our second annual deep dive into the foster care capacity of each state’s child welfare system. We diligently requested from each state data that reflects the amount of families they can rely on to care for youth entering the foster care system.
It has been a learning experience for the organization determining the best, most precise way to present what we believe is a critical part of the child welfare discussion. This year, we honed in on total licensed foster parents, non-relative caregivers, and relatives with active foster care placements.
We also worked with researchers to complement our own data with numbers reported by states to the Department of Health and Human Services. This information helped us provide some demographic trends, including the growing role of relatives in foster care as well as their compensation.
Starting in mid-October, you can find all of the data we were able to collect at FosterCareCapacity.org, our website for the project. The site will also include a full slate of feature articles and analysis that dig deeper into our findings in places including Illinois, Georgia, California and other states.
The other project is our second edition of Kids on The Hill, a magazine devoted to covering the year ahead in federal policy on child welfare and juvenile justice. The magazine will hit the inboxes of all 535 Congressional offices in mid-October, and we will release it online later that month.
Front and center in the discussion is the Family First Prevention Services Act, which was passed this year and makes major changes to the federal government’s role in child welfare. Most of the law takes effect next October, so this year will be huge as states discuss the impact of this reform.
Also featured in this year’s Kids on the Hill: plans for the first-ever college for foster youths, an interview with Trump’s top juvenile justice official and a jobs program that could put thousands of current and former foster youths to work.
Look for Kids on Hill on our website, www.FosteringFamiliesToday.com, in late October.
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New children’s book featuring a caterpillar on a quest to find his wings
‘And If Not’ by Sarah Roe illustrates God’s goodness through trials
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Sarah Roe’s debut children’s story, “And If Not: The Story of Saul the Caterpillar” (published by WestBow Press), paints a picture of pain in trials and addresses the skeptical thoughts that people might have toward God’s goodness.
In the book, a caterpillar named Saul has not yet received his wings. When his prayers go unanswered, he struggles to believe that God is still good. In a desperate attempt to find answers, he visits an old, wise butterfly in a rotting cinnamon tree who has a special story of his own.
The theme of the book is that God is still good even when circumstances may say otherwise and that ultimately, God can use one’s trials for one’s own good and His glory.
“This is not an easy read for children. There are big concepts and difficult words,” Roe explains. “Its purpose is for adults to read it out loud to children in hopes that it would stir up conversation and growth towards the knowledge of God.”
“And If Not”
By Sarah Roe
Softcover | 8.5 x 8.5 in | 28 pages | ISBN 9781973632696
E-Book | 28 pages | ISBN 9781973632702
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
About the Author
Sarah Roe has traveled America, Europe and parts of Asia, while helping in various children’s and music ministries to encourage parents to spend more time reading to their children, to lead children to ask the hard questions in life and for both to be grasped by the truths of God’s word portrayed in her stories. She currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
WestBow Press is a strategic supported self-publishing alliance between HarperCollins Christian Publishing and Author Solutions, LLC — the world leader in supported self-publishing. Titles published through WestBow Press are evaluated for sales potential and considered for publication through Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. For more information, visit www.westbowpress.com or call (866)-928-1240. For WestBow Press news, click “Like” at www.facebook.com/WestBowPress and follow @westbowpress on Twitter.
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