What’s Going On and Why Are we Doing This?
A large number of the teens in foster care are LGBTQ+ and were kicked out of their homes when their parents found out, or because they didn’t feel safe there. The rejection was hard enough. Now, with legislative action around the country specifically focused on these youth is only making things worse. We’ve had calls with kids in extreme mental health distress, and challenges finding even one-night accommodations for them.
Wait, doesn’t the state provide DSS and social workers to help with these kids? Well…just because DSS and social workers exist doesn’t mean that foster families are available and willing to take in LGBTQ+ kids. Many of the families flat out say no to LGBTQ kids.
Isn’t mental health available? Again, the answer is “well…..” There are crisis services. It doesn’t mean that there are qualified providers available to assist with issues related to gender and sexuality. It has been an extreme challenge to find mental health care when there is a youth in crisis.
Don’t other charitable organizations support LGBTQ+ kids and foster kids? Yes, there are some wonderful organizations out there doing important work. We do not replicate or replace any of that. We are filling the need specific to LGBTQ+ youth in foster care.
What will your donation do?
- $6 = email services for one month. $18 = monthly cost of our website. $100 = advertise on Facebook to reach prospective foster parents. $200 would support the basics for our organization for one month.
- Help us advertise and raise awareness among professionals who provide services to these youth, so we can have a resources to reference people to in crisis.
- Find new foster families with funds to pay for advertising, marketing materials, etc.
- Build our our website with resources and support & administrative expenses to keep it running
- Create educational material. We believe that there are foster parents who would be willing to take in these youth if they had some training or knew of the resources to support them.
- Help us get our 501(c)3 nonprofit designation. Right now, we cannot list ourselves on Facebook, get grants or other support, we cannot even get discounts on many services because we do not have our designation. There’s much we need to do to get that, including having working volunteers, an active board, etc. We need to advertise for those things, too.
