TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- There is a pressing need of high-quality foster parents in the local area, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families. To highlight this need, Department of Children and Families leaders will join local faith leaders, foster and adoptive parents, local youth once in foster care and community-based partners for the “Fostering Florida’s Future” Community Call to Action.
The event will be held at Capital City Christian Church at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 25. The Community Call to Action will enlist leaders from the faith, business and non-profit communities to commit to encourage foster parenting, actively recruit foster parents and support those who step forward to be foster parents. The event will invite current and prospective foster parents, child-serving professionals, the media and Floridians to help in the recruitment of new foster parents.
Leaders who attend will be asked to sign commitment pledges, telling us what their church or organization will do to support the initiative and recruitment needs of the Tallahassee area. Local foster care licensing and adoption-related services agencies will be available to provide information about fostering and other ways to help.
The following speakers are expected to attend: Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins, Florida’s Advocate for Foster Care and Adoption Tanya Wilkins, Pastor Curtis Clark of Thomasville Road Baptist Church, foster parents, a former foster youth and a foster home recruiter. Confirmed pledges from Rev. R.B. Holmes, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church; Pastor Curtis Clark, Thomasville Road Baptist Church; Pastor Joe Davis, Truth Gatherer’s Community Church; and Becky Pengelly, Fostering Achievement Fellowship Program at TCC.
According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, there are currently more than 80 children in foster care in the Tallahassee area. Foster parents provide a home until these children can be adopted into a permanent home.
