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Date Posted: Tue Feb 6th, 2007
Aldersgate Youth Service Bureau (“Aldersgate”), was recently awarded $5000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. This grant, advocated for through the office of State Senator Stewart Greenleaf (Republican – 12th District), will directly support the agency’s foster care programming.
Aldersgate supports area residents’ mental health and emotional well being through the provision of individual, family, and marital counseling, foster care placement, drug and alcohol prevention education and programming in area schools and the community at-large, and community outreach services which target at-risk minority youth.
The outcome of this grant will be to recruit more area families to serve as foster care parents for local children in need.
“Foster care is a crucial short-term solution to an emergency situation,” said Natopha Forbes, Aldersgate’s director of foster care services. “It’s founded on the premise that all children have the right to physical care and educational and emotional nurturance, regardless of the circumstance their birth families face.”
Aldersgate’s foster care program provides a substitute family experience for needy children in households pre-approved and licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Children may need foster care for temporary or extended periods of time. Under Aldersgate’s direction, foster parents or relatives, together with an agency caseworker, provide the specific kind of help children and their families need for proper and improved reunification. When a child can’t be reunited with his or her birth parents, he or she becomes prepared for permanent placement with relatives or non-related adoptive families. Under certain circumstances, foster families may adopt foster care children outright.
“This grant will really help us to recruit more local foster family hosts, and will allow us to offer stronger, basic programming in this area,” added Deborah Sapin-Feldstein, Aldersgate’s executive director. “Stewart Greenleaf really recognizes the importance of this service to our community. His advocacy for Aldersgate, specifically, really confirms we’re one of the best providers of foster care around.”
Since its inception 35 years ago, Aldersgate has placed hundreds of kids in qualified foster care homes. Today, there are 14 families actively participating and more recruited each month. Aldersgate seeks committed couples or individuals who are: willing to work with a needy child and his or her birth parents; supportive of efforts to return that child home; able to work with children who might have significant emotional or behavioral needs; and who are willing and able to encourage teens toward independent living.