Back to Stories Foster Care Awareness Month: Supporting Foster Care Through Community and Giving
May is Foster Care Awareness Month, and this year you can make a lasting impact right in your own community. Whether you’re able to give your time or encouragement, your support helps families thrive.
Foster parents open their hearts and homes to children navigating incredibly hard transitions. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone. When the community rallies around foster families, those families are better equipped to thrive.
To ensure support, communities must walk alongside children and families impacted by foster care. A supportive community has the power to make a resounding impact, easing the transition for children. Whether through foster care donations that provide financial support to foster families or showing up through emotional support, fostering thrives when it is rooted in community. Your contribution builds a network of meaningful support and encouragement for families currently fostering. This Foster Care Awareness Month, there are so many ways you can help; from volunteering your time to raising awareness or providing essential resources. Every action makes a difference.
Ways Communities Can Support Foster Care
Community fostering is about wrapping foster families in support. This isn’t limited to their close family and friends; anyone can make a significant difference in the lives of people impacted by foster care.
Every Child TN mobilizes all Tennesseans to care for children, youth, and families before, during, and after foster care. We do this as a network of agencies, faith communities, and advocates across the state.
You can become a vital part of ensuring that foster families are surrounded by a local community of changemakers and have access to the resources they need to thrive. Community fostering looks like volunteers bringing hope, stability, and a sense of belonging to children and their families impacted by foster care.
Community in Action: Helping a Family in Hickman County
Here is a story from one of our partners Connect South Central Tennessee
“Our community shared with one of our dedicated social workers that we have a team of local handymen ready to help families in need. Just two days later, she reached out with a request for a family in Hickman County.
We quickly connected with the “Men of Acts” team from a local church. Alongside their two team leads, we visited the family’s home to assess what was needed and confirm the project was doable. That same day, we posted a $500 request in CarePortal to cover the costs. In just 30 minutes, a church response team stepped up to fully fund it. Soon after, another church helped place the order for supplies, and yet another church picked them up from the local hardware store.
The “Men of Acts” spent the afternoon fixing, painting, and installing doors in the home. In just a few hours, the project was done—and the family moved one step closer to meeting the requirements for their kinship placement.”
You can become a vital part of ensuring that foster families are surrounded by a local community of changemakers and have access to the resources they need to thrive. Community fostering looks like volunteers bringing hope, stability, and a sense of belonging to children and their families impacted by foster care.
Looking for a different way to get involved? You can help build a brighter, more supportive future for children and families who need it most by taking the time to show up. Fill out a connect form and discover what events are happening in your city that support community fostering. The difference you make by spreading awareness can be life-changing, not just for the children, but for your entire community.
The Power of Giving
Donating to support foster care is about more than monetary generosity. It’s about giving your time, your energy, and your voice to help and uplift families fostering in your neighborhood. Offering your time, even in small ways, can ease the load for foster families, while financial donations help meet immediate needs and offset ongoing expenses.
Volunteering doesn’t require expertise, just a willingness to help. Your contribution reminds foster families that they are not alone and that a caring community is intentionally rooting for them.
Visit our Partner Network page to discover how you can support these efforts across Tennessee.
Strengthening the Foster Care System
Through partnership with agencies, organizations, and faith communities across the state, Every Child and our growing network have come together to support children and families impacted by child welfare. By investing in this network, you help strengthen this web of support for families and children in care. From foster care donation to tangible needs, tutoring, meal support, backpack drives, family fun days and more. The continual efforts of the greater foster care community uplift families by offering much-needed encouragement. They also help create a sense of belonging for children and families navigating the foster care system.
YOU can make a resounding impact on the lives of foster families in your community and beyond. Your decision to show up and say yes to volunteering, donating, or fostering cultivates a culture of compassion and empathy, and creates stronger community fostering ties that help promote more resilient families.
See how you can get involved—to bring hope, belonging, and support to Tennessee foster families today.
