Did you know that those most likely to go into foster care are the children of young women who were in foster care? Young women aging out of foster care are 600% more likely to have a teenage pregnancy compared to their peers.
85% of those that A Sense of Home serves are young women. 60% have children of their own. ASOH is not only preventing homelessness but preventing the next generation of kids from going into foster care.
This recent news profile by the amazing Christine Divine celebrates Foster Care Awareness Month by profiling how ASOH supports young mothers from foster care. This is one of our most favorite news profiles where Christine draws the link between young single mothers and foster care.
Just as ASOH provides young mothers with all that they need to achieve success in studies, work, and health, so too does ASOH serve the kids of these young women. ASOH provides more than just the furniture and home goods necessary to ensure an apartment is a functioning home for both mother and child. ASOH provides clothing, shoes, books, back-to-school supplies, games, and toys.
ASOH provides all essential items to ensure children of recipients with open cases at DCFS have everything they need to comply with DCFS guidelines. That means that if a young woman escapes domestic violence and reports the violence, her child is appointed a social worker who will look at the living conditions. There must be a dwelling and it must be functioning as a home. There must be a bed and a table and all of the things you expect a young child needs and deserves.
We highly recommend the kids in your life gather items that they no longer need and participate in 1 Kid 2 Another. Sharing what they have too much of enables another young child to do better at school and truly enjoy being a kid.
To feel the inspiration that we feel every day thanks to the young mothers we serve, watch mother Michelle and her daughter Olivia sharing their grace, hearts, and kindness as they pay it forward. ASOH welcomes recipients to pay it forward in supporting their peers in having their homes created. We love it when the moms bring their kids who can grow and learn from the experience. Just as they gain from the experience so do we.
We hope you will sponsor a home this year and get to experience the magic of the young moms we serve who pay it forward with their kids. Read more here.
