May is Foster Care Awareness Month, and the need for awareness is great!
More than 6,000 children are in foster care in Alabama, although there are 1,500 foster homes. So where do these kids go?
The older the kids, the fewer the options. Many of our teens in foster care are placed in institutions and group homes. I am honest when I say our group home, Davidson Farms, serves in ways other group homes do not.
With this month also being Mother’s Day, I wanted to share what one of our girls who lives at the farm said about the stability we give to youth living in foster care.
“I was forced to grow up at a very young age – some would say robbing me of my childhood. My mother struggled to provide a safe and stable environment, choosing her boyfriend and dealing drugs over me and my siblings. When the authorities became aware of the instability, abuse and neglect, I was placed in foster care at the age of 15.”
“Since being at Davidson Farms, I have a wonderful support system, which has allowed me to flourish socially and academically. I have the most stability I have ever had in my life. Not many people understand how important that is and how being unstable affects someone. There were many times growing up when I didn’t know where we were going to stay that night or what we were going to eat. I faced physical and verbal abuse almost daily. That’s not something any child should have to experience.
“At the farm, they love me as their own – something every child should feel. I have been given so many opportunities that wouldn’t be possible without you and my family at Kids to Love. Davidson Farms has truly changed my life.”
Davidson Farms: It’s more than a house. It’s a home.
