Join Camp Ten Trees for our 2009 auction on May 23rd at the South Lake Union Armory! $55 per ticket purchased by April 25th. $65 per ticket from April 26th until the auction date.

At any given moment there are as many as 600,000 children nationally in the U.S. foster care, approximately 130,000 of them will not be returning to their families of origin. The number of children that are available for adoption range widely depending upon the state, time of year, and the year in question. It is safe to say that up to 20 percent of the kids in care are not returning to their biologic parent(s). These children may be available for adoption, guardianship and/or long-term foster care. In some states, children over the age of 13 can have a say in their permanency planning.

Through no fault of their own, children end up in the foster care system for a wide range of reasons. The more common reasons include neglect, abandonment, exposure to drugs and alcohol, physical abuse and sexual abuse. But sometimes it can be a case of a parent(s) dying and there is no one left to care for the child, cases of medical need, or that the family is simply not equipped to parent the child.

Foster kids range in age between newborn to 18 years of age, single children, sibling groups of two or more, boys, girls, and teen parents. Typically there tends to be more boys in foster care than girls but that depends upon a wide range of factors. It is estimated that up to 18% of children in foster care are GLBT&Q youth (gay, lesbian, bi, trans and questioning). For many of these kids foster care is not a safe place and they often hide how they are even more. If you would like to know more about these kids, check out our GLBT&Q Youth in Foster Care section or contact us; we are always looking for SAFE families for GLBT&Q youth in care.

Since October 2000 Families Like Ours has assisted hundreds of GLBT&Q youth and families in the Pacific Northwest as well as nationally. FLO’s ongoing recruitment, retention and education of families and professionals is well established. Working closely with professional teams, Families Like Ours has become an instrumental resource for caseworkers and agencies in providing the specialized services these youth and families require. This experience and the critical need to support these youth and families has led to the SAFE program first introduced in King County, Washington (Region Four). As a national adoption exchange, Families Like Ours continues to support the needs of GLBT&Q adoptive families throughout the United States. Families Like Ours (FLO)—GLBT&Q: SAFE program Program Fact Sheet Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered & Questioning Youth: Supportive Adoption & Foster Education is a community partnership designed to provide support and education assistance in the permanency planning for GLBT&Q foster youth, families, and professional teams including agencies and placement workers. The SAFE program community partners are committed to working with FLO to provide support and education assistance in the permanency planning for:

• GLBT&Q foster youth
• Families providing support for these youth
• Adoptive and foster families
• Professional teams working with GLBTQ youth and families

Why is this program needed? GLBT&Q youth and the families that support these youth require specialized support services from caseworkers and agencies.