Just want to share a few staggering statistical realities with you.
On any given day, there are nearly 428,000 children in foster care in the United States. In 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years. In 2013 more than 23,000 young people aged out of the foster care system leaving them to fend for themselves. Many without adequate skills and education. 50% of former foster kids will find themselves homeless within two years of exiting the system. 50% of foster kids exit the system without a job and remain unemployed for some time. 30% have no health insurance and end up receiving government assistance as a way to survive. 60% of the girls leaving foster care find themselves pregnant within a few years after leaving foster care.
These are not just statistics friends, these are our kids. The ones you pass in the streets. See on the corners asking for money. We have to do better. It takes a village. The village is us. There is something we all can do. It is Foster Care Awareness month. I share these things with you now but these realities don't just exist for the month of May. I bring attention to it now but for myself and other foster parents this is something we see and are exposed to every day. This is real life. You can make a difference.
These are not just statistics friends, these are our kids. The ones you pass in the streets. See on the corners asking for money. We have to do better. It takes a village. The village is us. There is something we all can do. It is Foster Care Awareness month. I share these things with you now but these realities don't just exist for the month of May. I bring attention to it now but for myself and other foster parents this is something we see and are exposed to every day. This is real life. You can make a difference.
