The Racine County Foster Care department is seeking foster care families in Racine County. To help gain an understanding of the importance of keeping children home in Racine County, the department launched a new video on Aug. 15.
It supports the department’s Keep Them Home initiative and urges community members to learn the stories of foster care children in Racine County. As of Aug. 2022, Jessica M Scheeler, a Foster Parent Recruitment, Retention and Trainer, shared that 126 children are in foster care in Racine County. That there are currently 70 homes that host these children at this time.
Scheeler said that there is a need for more; they aim for around 100 total homes. She said what’s “just as important is the need to have homes that will take siblings and teenagers.”
Racine County Foster Care hopes to inspire the community to open its heart and its homes to youth in need in Racine.
Keep them home
In 2018, Racine County’s Bring Them Home campaign reduced the number of children placed in foster homes outside the County from over 100 kids in 2018 to 30 kids in 2022. Now, the department wants to ensure these children are staying home in Racine County.
The continued awareness being spread about the department’s Keep Them Home initiative strives to never place a child from Racine County outside of Racine County when placed within the system.
The benefits of keeping children in Racine County or in their community include:
- Settling into a foster family is less traumatic
- Likelihood of staying with siblings is increased
- Emotional and mental well-being is more stable
- Success in school, activities, and relationships is increased
- More likely to be reunified with their birth families
“We know that foster kids have better outcomes when they stay close to their families, friends, and schools,” said Dan Chiappetta of Racine County Foster Care. “We need more local foster homes to achieve the goal of never placing a foster child outside of their community.”
Learn about this campaign online.
Video overview
Of those involved in the system, how many stories of theirs do you know? This is the question posed to the Racine County community in a new video. In the video, 6 young actors volunteered their time to portray the thoughts and feelings of those who are children in the foster care system. This video raises awareness about the trauma, challenges and struggles that actual people in our community face.
It discusses the very raw and real scenarios that people in foster care face. Running away from their foster care homes, wanting to stay in their home to help a sick parent, hoping to stay with siblings in their homes, and/or living in foster care in another community.
The video can be viewed on Facebook or on Youtube.
Learn about Foster Care
Read the August 2022 newsletter for more information about foster care in Racine County.
Visit RacineCounty.com/FosterCare or call 262-638-6356 to discuss your questions with a foster care specialist.
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