Get Involved
Honoring and recognizing National Foster Care Month is an important part of keeping the needs of children and youth in foster care in the minds of the public. Browse this page for ideas on how you can take action in your community! View a list of events to see what others are doing to raise awareness and find out who to contact for more information about what is happening for National Foster Care Month in your State.
Here are other actions you can take to spread the word!
- Contact your State or local officials to request a proclamation be issued honoring May as National Foster Care Month. Use the sample proclamations as examples to help shape your communication.
- Use these key facts and statistics in your messaging to demonstrate why this issue should be given attention.
- Update your social media profile with Foster Care Month graphics and profiles frames.
- Share these sample messages with the hashtag #FosterCareMonth.
- Plan an in-person or virtual event in your community and tell us about it! Email the event to NFCM@childwelfare.gov.
- Share the Reflections: Stories of Foster Care series as a quick and easy way to demonstrate how the foster care system can support youth and families.
- Subscribe to email updates to stay connected to the campaign!
Sample Foster Care Month Events
Are you honoring National Foster Care Month in your community? Share your event or activity here to let others know about it and to inspire similar ideas in other cities.
To submit your event, send us an email.
To get more information about what is happening for National Foster Care Month in your State, contact your State Foster Care Program Manager.
Featured Events
Children’s Bureau Talks Foster Care & Mental Health
In observance of National Foster Care Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, the Children’s Bureau hosted an honest conversation about the intersection of family separation, trauma, and triumph on May 11, 2022.
This chat featured the following individuals:
- Aysha E. Schomburg, Associate Commissioner, Children’s Bureau
- Nicole Childers, foster care lived experience and executive editor of the Business, Technology and Innovation Unit at NBC News
- Thema Bryant, Ph.D., president-elect, American Psychological Association
View a recording of the event.
Join us on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, from 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time for the Virtual Event “Creating Partnership in Kinship Treatment Foster Care.” Hosted by the Capacity Building Center for States, this event will highlight a Treatment Family Care pilot program in North Carolina and research from the African American Families and Kinship Care Lab at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Don’t miss this opportunity to:
- Gain exposure to current research and its implications for child welfare practice with relatives and kin
- Identity strategies needed to build public and private partnerships to deliver effective treatment family care with relative kin
- Learn how to develop the workforce to deliver treatment family care for relatives and kin
Register now!
All Year Long
Foster Care to Success: The Care Package Program
Send a package from any location
All year long
Comfort Cases
Partner with Comfort Case to provide comfort and the essentials for a child’s first night in foster care
All year long
NFPA Training Institute
Create a free account to access online trainings and webinars.
All year long
March/April
Foster Club: National Foster Care Month Pins
March - May 2022
Order to show your support for foster care
All Locations
The National Foster Parent Association: Foster Care Month Bracelets
March – May 2022
Order to show your support for foster care
All Locations
40th Annual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
April 4 – April 6, 2022
Virtual Conference
March for Our Care #FosterCare
April 16, 2022
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia
CWLA National Conference
April 27 – 29, 2022
Washington D.C.
May
Foster Care Alumni of America: Foster Walks
May 2022
Nationwide
6th Annual Foster 5K for Foster Kids in Silicon Valley
May 1, 2022
Milpitas, California / All locations
iFoster National Community Art Project Artist Registration for Youth & Caregivers
May 7, 2022
Register by April 24, 2022
All Locations
Your art will be exhibited publicly on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Walk Run Thrive
A Campaign from the National CASA/GAL Association for Children
April 30 – May 1, 2022
Nationwide
The 27th Annual National Foster Care Conference
May 4 – 6, 2022
Jacksonville, Florida
Fostering Communities So Children Can Thrive: An International Perspective on Foster Care
An international celebration of foster care awareness month put on by the Quality Parenting Initiative
May 12, 2022
10:30am US Pacific time
A virtual live stream event / all locations
Family Focused Treatment Association: Virtual Public Policy and Advocacy Institute
May 17 – 18, 2022
All locations
Navigating Life in Foster Care: A Panel of Young Adults with Lived Experience
May 19, 2022
1:00 – 2:30PM EST
Virtual live stream event / all locations
Walk With Me for Youth in Foster Care
May 21, 2022
Charleston, West Virginia
Quality Parenting Initiative Virtual Conference
May 24 - 26, 2022
Virtual Conference
June
National Reunification Month
June 2022
All Locations
National CASA GAL Conference
June 4-7, 2022
Seattle, Washington
National Foster Parent Association Education Conference
June 23, 2022
Virtual Conference