October By The Number

As we look into these numbers so regularly we tend to get lost in how little these numbers move. Still we have around 300 kids from the Permian Basin in foster care still just over 10% will stay in their home county and still just under 40% will stay in our 30 county region. Below is the breakdown by county for Region 09 Permian Basin counties.

As we sliced and diced the numbers a bit differently, something caught our eye. Often there is a concern that if I foster, I will get a child that will be unruly or a danger to my family. Or we might think they have some severe medical needs that will cause me to rearrange my life. In the September of 2020 numbers the opposite was found. That of all of the foster children from our region 55% were classified as needing a Basic level of services. This classification represents children with the least difficult behaviours and little to no medical conditions to care for. Here is a link to the way DFPS explains it. For all intents and purposes these children are just kids and are really no different than the children your kids hangout with or that you see at church but have a little extra baggage that a caring adult can help them work through.

Numbers don’t lie, they give us a glimpse of reality so we can see what we are really up against. These kids need your help and they need homes. If you are thinking of fostering click on this link to start exploring. If you have questions please feel free to reach out.

You might also consider giving to The Attic as we continue to serve both the children in foster care and those families that are at risk of losing their children to the state's foster system. Here you can see the work we have done last quarter where we helped a family everyday.