Hi! My name is Faith Carria Joy.

I want all Americans to have one thing they do to help children in foster care.

The United States is one of the wealthiest, most powerful nations ever to exist, and yet every day it fails its most fragile kids. Every day, children who have been abused or neglected are removed from their families and enter a system where it’s chance as to whether they will be loved and cared for…or face indifference, or even further abuse and neglect. The repercussions of this failure are far-reaching. America, this is embarrassing.

This is unacceptable.

Our systems and culture need to change, and we need everyone on board.

The problem is,

most Americans don’t know anything about foster care.

I get it.

Before becoming a foster parent, I didn’t know much about foster care either.

But I do now! I previously served as a foster parent and am currently a fost-adopt mom. This blog is here to teach you about:

• what the foster care system is and isn’t,

• how it works (and doesn’t,)

• how foster care impacts everyone (even if you think it doesn’t)

• how you - in small, achievable ways - can help move the needle in your own community.

I want to see an America in which everyone knows something about foster care, and everyone is doing something to help people impacted by foster care feel loved, seen, and cared for.

This isn’t about connecting the haves to the have-nots, or creating an avenue for charity in which one side gives and one side takes.

This is about creating relationships in which everyone at the table has something to give and something to receive, something to teach and something to learn, something to undo and something to build. This is about shifting the culture from ignorance and indifference until its a point of national pride that we all care for our most vulnerable.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for being part of the change.

photo credit: Nina Chappel Photography

(Yes, I awkwardly cropped myself out of some adorable family photos. How did you know??)