Foster Care Summit: A Community Conversation

May is National Foster Care Month

A month dedicated to caregivers who have decided to open their hearts and homes to children in need of love and safety. Without foster care parents, children would not have the hope of a safe haven to escape their life of abuse and neglect.

Across the nation, communities are beginning to recognize the challenges that foster children face as they “age out” of the foster care system.

Since 2014, more than 400,000 American children have been placed in foster care at some point. But where do those children go when they reach adulthood? And what are their odds of becoming successful citizens?

On May 25th there will be a special event at Valencia College’s West Campus that will bring together many of the key players in the Central Florida discussion of foster care.

At the event, which begins at 11 a.m., tables will be set up to allow guests to learn about different community groups that help and advocate for foster youth.

And from 1 to 3 p.m., there will be a panel discussion featuring representatives from:

• The Faine House of Orlando
• Community Based Care of Central Florida
• Valencia College
• Heartland for Children, an organization that fights child abuse and neglect in Polk, Highlands and Hardee Counties
• Centerstone, which operates a community behavioral health hospital and outpatient practice in south Tampa Bay that works with children, teens, adults and seniors who face trauma, addictions, psychiatric illnesses and emotional disorders.

Valencia College, in partnership with Community-Based Care of Central Florida, is trying to provide access to meet the growing needs and demands of foster-care youth – a population that often goes unnoticed.

This event is open to the public. It will be held in Building 8, the Special Events Center, on Valencia’s West Campus, located at 1800 S. Kirkman Road, Orlando, FL.

Refreshments will be served.

Use this link to learn more.