SOCIAL MEDIA

• We have been called upon by a Florida based non-profit organization, Lutheran Services Florida, to help aid some of the children in our community. There are children in the Fort Meyers area in need of homes. They need temporary placement because they cannot safely remain with their biological families. We are asking you to discuss with your families and determine if you may be able to become a foster parent. LSF recruits, trains, certifies, and supports foster families, making it as accessible as possible. If this feels a journey you would like to embark upon, please reach out to leecofoster@lsfnet.org.
• Are you looking for more ways to better serve your community? Are kids and their wellbeing and safety of great importance to you? We have a big opportunity for you. We are partnering with Lutheran Services Florida to help find loving homes for foster children. As a member of our congregation, we think you have the heart to take on these children in need. If you are interested in learning more about a temporary placement foster child joining your family, please contact leecofoster@lsfnet.org for additional information.
• We need you! In the Fort Meyers area, we are experiencing a shortage of foster parents. We have been reached out to from a Florida based non-profit, Lutheran Services Florida, and they have asked us to help find loving homes for these children in need to spend some time in. This is a temporary placement and allows the children to thrive in a different home, avoiding any unsafe family situations. Please consider this calling and determine if you have the space in your home and in your heart to bring a foster child into your life. We hope you will help bring God’s healing, help, and hope to a child in need. Contact leecofoster@lsfnet.org for more details on this opportunity.

*The LSF Child Welfare Case Management program is funded by the Florida Department of Children and Families through the Children’s Network of Southwest Florida in Lee County.

NEWSLETTER BLURB

Hate to wait? Try waiting for something big, like parents. I want a mom to listen to me. I hope I’ll get a dad who will take me to ball games. A dog would really be nice too. I want parents to take care of me. I want a mom and dad who will be there forever. Becoming foster parents. Maybe it’s what you’ve been waiting for too.

Lutheran Services Florida is a statewide nonprofit organization providing a variety of social service programs touching 1 out of 50 Floridians each year, bringing them healing, hope and help. Specifically in Fort Myers, LSF seeks out foster families for the thousands of children in foster care. LSF recruits, trains, certifies and supports foster families in and near Lee County.

Designed as a temporary placement for children who cannot safely remain with their biological families, foster care provides a necessary and, at times, lifesaving intervention to children who have suffered substantiated incidents of abuse and neglect.

Become a foster parent with LSF, and receive the support you need to provide hope-filled tomorrows for children and youth in your community! Find your role in helping children in foster care by calling 239-461-7651

MYTHS ABOUT FOSTERING

Many myths surround foster parenting. Please keep these facts in mind as you consider if foster parenting is right for you:

• MYTH: You have to be wealthy and a homeowner to foster.

FACT: You may rent or own your home, and you definitely don’t have to be rich. We at LSF ensure that we do our best to support our foster families in every way possible, whether wealthy or not

• MYTH: You have to be married to foster.

FACT: Single, partnered, and married people alike can all be great foster parents. (An increasing number of local foster parents are single.)

• MYTH: Foster parents must have biological children or prior parenting experience.

FACT: You don’t have to have children of your own or past parenting experience, just lots of love for the children you will foster.

• MYTH: Only people younger (or older) than you can foster.

FACT: People begin fostering at many different points in life. The only age requirement is that foster parents must be at least 21, and many great foster parents are in their 50s or 60s.

• MYTH: LGBTQ people can’t foster.

FACT: Many excellent foster parents are part of the LGBTQ community.

Don’t be deceived by foster parenting myths. Contact LSF @ leecofoster@lsfnet.org

SHOULD YOU CONSIDER FOSTERING?

Ask yourself the following questions to help decide if foster parenting is right for you. Will you be able to:

• Love and care for a child with a challenging back­ground and sometimes difficult behavior?
• Help the child develop a sense of belonging in your home, even though his or her stay will be temporary?
• Stand by the child through life’s ups and downs?
• Be willing to work with the child’s birth family?

Foster parent candidates must:

• Be a Florida resident age 21 and older;
• Be financially stable;
• Be able to care for children;
• Pass an extensive background check and home study;
• Have reliable and safe transportation; and
• Have adequate room and beds in your home for children.

The biggest requirement to be a foster parent is love – and the desire to help children move past their past.