Perhaps you are curious of how COVID-19 has affected foster care in Wisconsin. According to a new report from the Children’s Defense Fund, “Children have experienced a year of unprecedented upheaval due to the pandemic and racial reckoning.” Every aspect of foster children’s lives has been impacted by these shifts more quickly than data can track; even the most recent available data sets do not fully encompass how this past year has shaped our lives. A year marked by such dramatic change and drastic negative impact on children’s lives must be followed by one of healing and restoration.

• 4,576 children were abused or neglected in Wisconsin in 2019
• 7,642 children were in Wisconsin foster care in 2019
• 100 children a month are placed in foster care in Milwaukee County
• 65% of kids in foster care are sibling groups

(Note: Numbers from Children’s Defense Fund’s The State of America’s Children® 2021)

Our Be the Village Ministry connects and helps support families in the foster system. Chosen is a community organization that assists many families in need of help. They have a clothes closet located in Waukesha and plan to open another closet in Wauwatosa/West Allis area.

Chosen is excited to announce the return of their Walk on the Wild Side Foster-Care Annual Awareness Walk. After much consideration and desire to create a safe and exciting event for walkers, they have moved the date to Sept. 11. This year in order to exercise an abundance of social distancing they will be having a scavenger hunt with checkpoints, passports, fun fostering facts and a boxed lunch where prizes will be awarded. The tickets will include admission to the zoo as well as a picnic boxed lunch. More information to come!

Brenda Lytle, RN
Director of Care Ministries