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Before foster care was regulated by the government, child welfare and foster care were mainly in the hands of private and religious organizations, according to Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Buckner Orphans Home, founded in 1879, was one of the many orphanages or children’s homes in the United States that opened doors to children in need. 

Children thrive in homes, not institutions

Research shows that children thrive when they’re in loving homes, not in institutions. That’s why there are no longer orphanages in the United States. By the 1980s, foster care replaced orphanages and became a government-funded program.

For Buckner, this meant Buckner Orphans Home grew into Buckner Foster Care and Adoption.

Children in foster care need a stable family

Foster care in the United States has evolved into more than 400,000 kids in care waiting for a stable family. These children were removed from their homes for different reasons.

According to the Department of Family and Protective Services, about 64% of kids in care were removed from their homes due to neglect and 35% were removed due to parental drug use

The purpose of foster care is to provide a safe home 

The goal of foster care is to remove kids from unsafe or unhealthy environments and place them in a safe home while their biological family works toward reunification.

Foster families provide a loving, family environment for the child to live in while a permanency plan is made.

You can help children in care 

It takes a village to raise a child. You can be the village. Now is the time to step up to meet the needs of a vulnerable child.

Whether you become a foster parent, support families by providing respite care, volunteer to help families in your community or give financially, everyone has a role to play in meeting the urgent needs of these children. 

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." – James 2:14-17

Learn how you can help children in foster care.

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