Raise Me Up

More than 500,000 children in this country live in foster care; l20,000 will not be able to return to their families. In Philadelphia, a new public awareness campaign, Raise Me Up, hopes to enlist volunteers and mentors for those children.

In a press conference yesterday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Department of Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose said that the city cannot do the job alone—that its citizens must step up and take a strong role in the lives of the children who are at risk of growing up homeless, despondent, less likely to complete high school and more likely to end up in a life of crime, addiction and poverty.

The Honorable Max Baer, justice of Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, said that ideally children should be raised by their own families, if possible. When they cannot and are placed in foster care, he or she has a better chance of success if there is a mentor involved in his life. “Foster parents are wonderful,” he said, “but foster care is a flawed system. Children need permanent families.”

We agree. If a child can not be returned to his birth family, we believe that adoption should be his or her goal. Meanwhile, mentors and volunteers can help boost a child’s confidence and contribute to his self-esteem. But an adoptive family should be sought for him before he succumbs to the devastating outcomes inevitably visited on children without permanence in their lives.

Raise Me Up Campaign Launched Today

The Raise Me Up Campaign is launching today. From their website:

You don’t have to raise foster children to raise them up. You just have to raise your hand and say you’ll help.

The Raise Me Up campaign will harness the vast power of communities, families and individuals who are willing to raise their hands and help bring real change to the lives of vulnerable children.

Raise Me Up is a national effort that offers people real opportunities to make a difference in the life of a child in their community, through education, volunteering and outreach.

Raise Me Up features powerful ads on television and radio, and in newspapers and other venues, that highlight the real difference people can make in the life of a child by getting involved.

There are three principal elements of the Raise Me Up campaign:

Raise Your Hand will connect visitors to volunteer opportunities with local organizations. Whether someone would like to volunteer, mentor a child or make a donation, their contribution can make all the difference in the life of a child in foster care.

Raise Awareness will connect people to events and other opportunities to learn more about helping to strengthen children and families. The more people know about the facts of foster care, the more that can be done to improve the lives of children in care.

Raise Your Voice will provide simple ways for people to get involved in efforts to improve the child-welfare system and to engage with elected officials at the regional, state and national levels in supporting these vulnerable children.

We encourage you to check out their website and get involved!