May is National Foster Care Month, a month set aside to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, community members, child welfare professionals, and policymakers who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes and connections.

This year's focus, Achieving Well-Being With Children and Youth in Care, provides resources to support child welfare professionals as they seek to build  well-being postpermanency; with transitioning youth; through support in sibling connections; through support in school & community; and through trauma-informed child welfare systems. During National Foster Care Month, we renew our commitment to ensuring a bright future for the more than 400,000 children and youth in foster care, and we celebrate all those who make a meaningful difference in their lives.

The Children's Bureau, which is within both the Administration on Children, Youth and Families and the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services, together with Child Welfare Information Gateway and the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, supports National Foster Care Month through a dedicated web section for child welfare professionals and as a partner in the national "Change a Lifetime" campaign sponsored by the National Foster Care Month initiative. A proclamation from the President each year supports the Children's Bureau in this effort by recognizing the work of foster families, social workers, faith-based and community organizations, and others that are improving the lives of young people in foster care across the country and by encouraging all Americans to participate in efforts to serve these children throughout the year.

Learn more about National Foster Care Month at ChildWelfare.gov.

For more ideas on how you can get involved, visit FosterCareMonth.org. 

For more information and resources:

2012 Presidential Proclamation – National Foster Care Month

Statement from Secretary Sebelius on National Foster Care Month

Widgets can be found at:

http://www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth/promoteNFCM.cfm#widgets