We have witnessed the opioid crisis in Northeast Ohio take too many victims captive to its devastating effects. The most vulnerable victims are the 15,000+ children currently in our foster care system mainly due to this drug epidemic. In a news conference held on August 24, 2017, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine addressed the urgent need foster parents saying, “There is a growing chasm between the number of available foster families and the increasing number of children who enter the child welfare system because one or both of their parents are drug addicts. Today I want to issue a call to Ohioans who may be interested in being a foster parent. I ask them to make that leap and open their home to a kid or kids who could use a stable, loving home” (Peterson & Tierney, 2017).

Foster for a Difference was born out of Northeast Ohio Adoption Services as a direct attempt to help answer this call for foster families. Northeast Ohio’s child welfare system is overwhelmed by the number of children pouring into foster care, and it’s more than what we as a state are currently equipped to handle. There are nearly 3,000 more children in the child welfare system today than when the opioid crisis began seven years ago, and that number is steadily increasing. More than 15,000 children are in the Ohio foster care system, however there are only roughly over 7,200 foster families available to meet this great need (Peterson & Tierney, 2017).

Each one of these children has found themselves in their current life circumstances by no fault of their own. Families and parents struggling with poverty, addiction, abuse, violence and so much more, have unfortunately been the cause for their children being taken from their custody and placed within the foster care system. At Foster for a Difference we are determined to do all that we can to meet these children where they are and to help set them up for future success, no matter what comes their way. We are committed to spreading vast awareness of this need for foster parents, and to provide every means necessary to train, equip, and support willing individuals and families in their journey of becoming foster parents, and during their actual care of foster children. American Youth Motivational Speaker Josh Shipp famously says that, “Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.” We wholeheartedly agree, and know that just one caring adult can make all the difference in the life of a child. Join us in turning the tide, and Foster for a Difference.