NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH

joined by jami –and to help kids find a forever home i’m joined by jami truitt regional recruiter for the department of social services on the eastern shore with more details. foster care is a temporary service that provides short-term care and supportive services to children who are unable to live at home because of child abuse or neglect. foster children live in family foster homes and group care settings. all maryland counties and baltimore city operate foster care programs. foster care caseworkers work with the birth and foster families to develop the most appropriate permanency plan for each child. reunification with parents, placement with relatives, or adoption are examples of permanency plans. if for some reason a child cannot reunite with their family, the child, depending on their age, receive services that teach them to be independent young adults. the foster care caseworker assists the birth and foster families in obtaining the services, such as counseling and health care needed to meet the goals of the permanency plan. each local dss is responsible for recruiting, training, licensing and retaining family resource homes. the foster care program in maryland features a family to family theme that encourages foster parents to play an active role with the birth family in planning and carrying out the goals of the permanency plan. using the family to family premise, foster children are place in homes that are in their own community thereby keeping the children connected to their home school, friends and resources within their neighborhood. besides offering family to family foster care services, adolescents that are unable to reunite with their family are eligible to receive independent 47 abc news – delmarva’s trusted source clouds increase throughout the morning on monday