National Foster Care Month 2021
Foster Care as a Support to Families, Not a Substitute for Parents

Reflections: Stories of Foster Care

Personal storytelling is a powerful way to connect real-life scenarios to important practice issues and raise awareness to demonstrate how the foster care system can support youth and families. Feature these stories in your State and local campaigns as a quick and easy way to enhance your message. Or use them as tools for training new child welfare professionals and recruiting and training foster parents. These stories also highlight the continuum of strategies that professionals can use to engage youth, amplify youth voice, and help build meaningful connections for all involved in foster care.

Are you interested in sharing your story during a future campaign? Email NFCM@childwelfare.gov to learn how! 

Explore videos from previous years’ campaigns. Narrative stories from 2018, 2019, and 2020 are also available.

 

 

Profile picture of a young man dressed formally and smiling.
READ THE STORY

Youth: Partners in Systems Improvement, Not Just Service Recipients
Selfie of a young African American woman smiling.
READ THE STORY

Empowering Youth to Be Agents of Change in Their Own Lives
Family Portrait of a male and two women with a girl in a cap and gown in a football field.
READ THE STORY

Unseen Heroes
Young man standing on the beach against a tree smiling.
READ THE STORY

Empowering Youth in the Courtroom
Selfie of an African American couple standing with an African American teenage girl smiling.
READ THE STORY

Home for the Holidays
A boy’s hands holding a sign that says New to the Crew.
READ THE STORY

No Uncertainty About Permanency, Even in Uncertain Times
Young transgender girl standing outside smiling.
READ THE STORY

A Serendipitous Match
Group of four teen sitting and smiling.
READ THE STORY

Authentic Youth Engagement, Not Lip Service
Selfie of a woman with glasses smiling in a parking lot.
READ THE STORY

Facilitating Connection and Hope
A young woman smiling and holding a cake that says “Welcome to the Family.”
READ THE STORY

Responding to Fear With Love
A profile picture of a blond woman smiling.
READ THE STORY

Relentlessly Fighting for Permanency
A profile picture of a woman wearing glasses and smiling.
READ THE STORY

Lifting Youth Voice and Choice
African American mother and father with five children standing outside smiling.
READ THE STORY

Fostering Unconditional Love
A young African American woman at a pumpkin patch sitting and smiling.
READ THE STORY

Collaborative Relationships Promote Family Stability
Woman and man holding two kids. All wearing matching plaid shirts in a barn.
READ THE STORY

Reinforcing Love
A middle age man with beard looking at the camera.
READ THE STORY

Simply Put, Every Child Deserves a Loving Home
A young woman in a white dress standing outside.
READ THE STORY

Learning From Stories of ‘Displacement’
A woman standing on the beach against a tree smiling.
READ THE STORY

Fostering for Two: A Young Mother’s Story

Tell us how we’re doing!

2021 NFCM Survey