You are ignoring children in need.
You felt strongly about gay marriage rights, and you fought for them, putting all your energy into it. You are offended by the Southern flag, and you felt compelled to post your opinion on it on social media, sharing your view with others. You have even joined in with others, shouting "Black Lives Matter," as you watch others marching in the streets from your couch and from your TV. Yes, you have been a strong advocate for civil rights in the early part of this 21st century. Yet, you are ignoring one large part of the population.
Abused. Beaten. Neglected. Starved. Abandoned. Children living in fear. Children in need. Children placed into foster care. At any given day, there are over 500,000 children placed in foster care in the United States. Each of these children has suffered immeasurable hurt, unimaginative pain, and unspeakable horrors from those who were supposed to love them the most. To be sure, the life of a child in foster care has been one of great pain and tremendous suffering. For many of these children, a stable home and a loving family is all they crave, yet never truly find. More often than not, these children in care never truly recover from the emotional, physical, and psychological wounds that they suffer from. Furthermore, they are haunted daily by the various traumas they suffered before coming into care; never truly escaping from the horrors they have experienced, and never finding peace. Yet, so little are willing to fight for these children. So few are ready to stand up for their rights. What will it take for you to start calling for civil rights for children?
What about the 4 year old boy who came to my home late one night, with cigarette burns on his scalp, his lounge, the roof of his mouth, and on his genitals? Who was standing up for his rights? How about the 7 year old girl that came to live with my family, who was sexually abused by her father, a registered sexual predator, and abandoned by her drug addicted mother? Who was calling for action, and saying her life mattered? Where was the outcry for the teenage girl who came to live with us, after being abused by three previous families, and abandoned by all of them?
To be sure, not everyone is called to be a foster parent, and not everyone can take children from foster care into their own home and into their own family Yet, everyone is called to help kids in need, kids in foster care. Each of us can do our own part. You have a vital role in bringing rights to children in foster care. You can fight for them. You can march for them. You can bring about change for over 500,000 children.
Let's make this the year that children in foster care gain their civil rights. Let's work together to make sure that foster children get the education, training, and career they deserve. Let's make sure that each of these children receives the health care, emotional support, and counseling they need. Let's work together, you and I, to ensure that these children have a voice in the court system, and that they are have the best case workers helping them. Let's make this the year that we ensure that each child in foster care is placed in a loving, stable, secure home, with foster parents who will love them unconditionally.
By contacting lawmakers, politicians, and publicity agents through means of emails, letters, phone calls, and other means of communication, you can bring attention to the needs of children who are facing a series of challenges after while being placed into the foster care system. Along with this, you, as an advocate of change, can also post information in editorial letters, websites, public forums, and so forth. By lobbying for change, new laws can be introduced, and information can be brought forward to the general public. But if not you, then who? If you are not ready to lead this charge, and fight for the civil rights of children, who will?
The flags are being taken down. Gay marriages are now legal. Obamacare is the law of the land. Now, it is time for you to begin fighting for the civil rights of our children. Now, it is time for you to bring about change to hundreds of thousands of children in need, children in foster care. Are you up to this fight? The children in our nation, in your state, in your town, and in your own neighborhood are waiting on you. After all, children's lives matter, too.
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Dr. John DeGarmo has been a foster parent for 13 years, now, and he and his wife have had over 45 children come through their home. He is a speaker and trainer on many topics about the foster care system, and travels around the nation delivering passionate, dynamic, energetic, and informative presentations. Dr. DeGarmo is the author of several foster care books, including the brand new book Love and Mayhem: One Big Happy Family's Story of Fostering and Adoption, and writes for several publications, including Foster Focus magazine. Dr. DeGarmo is the host of the weekly radio program Foster Talk with Dr. John, He can be contacted at drjohndegarmo@gmail, through his Facebook page, Dr. John DeGarmo, or at his website, http://drjohndegarmofostercare.weebly.com.