How to Help Foster Children

How You Can Help Foster Children

Want more information, or are you looking for a way to get involved? Below are links to organizations that deal with child welfare and foster care.

AdoptUSKids: A project of the Children's Bureau, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, the organization encourages families to adopt U.S. children.

Casey Family Programs: Casey Family Programs' mission is to provide and improve -- and ultimately to eliminate the need for -- foster care by providing direct services and promoting advances in child-welfare practice and policy.

Dave Thomas Foundation: Wendy's founder Dave Thomas created the nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the adoption of the more than 150,000 children in North America's foster care system.

North American Council on Adoptable Children: NACAC promotes and supports permanent families for children and youth in the United States and Canada who have been in care, especially those in foster care and those with special needs.

Pew Commission of Children in Foster Care: Part of the Pew Charitable Trust, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care has been established to develop recommendations to improve outcomes for children in the foster care system.

Children's Rights: One of the country's foremost advocacy organizations for children. Uses the power of the courts, policy analysis and public education to ensure that children who are abused and neglected receive the care and services they need, and that they grow up in permanent and loving homes.

Maryhurst: Provides residential in-home and community-based treatment programs to children with severe emotional disabilities, most often caused by traumatic experiences of abuse and neglect. A fully licensed childcare, child placement and adoption service provider in Kentucky, serving more than 600 children and families each year.

The Kinship Center: The California-based Kinship Center helps create and support families for thousands of children who can no longer remain safely with their birth parents.

Adoption.About.com: A clearinghouse of information on adoption and foster care.

The Urban Institute: A nonpartisan economic and social policy research institute.

National Foster Parents Association: The National Foster Parent Association is the only national organization that strives to support foster parents, and remains a consistently strong voice on behalf of all children.

Child Welfare League of America: An association of more than 900 public and private nonprofit agencies that assist more than 3.5 million abused and neglected children and their families each year with a range of services.

Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative: A national foundation whose mission is to help youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood by connecting them with opportunities in education, employment, health care, housing and supportive personal and community relationships.

Annie E. Casey Foundation: The primary mission of the foundation is to foster public policies, human service reforms and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today's vulnerable children and families.

National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association: Together with its state and local members, the association supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children so that they can thrive in safe, permanent homes.