Draw three smiley faces on your fingers and spread the love this #WorldFosterDay

“I realised that there was a need for a loving home for newborns when I was working at Somerset Hospital in 2010.

I heard a baby crying and my heart broke when I realised that she was being cared for in hospital because she had been abandoned.

All any of us need is human touch and compassion...” – Marilyn May, registered nurse with training in safe care and foster parenting, and the founder of Atlantic Hope 

According to Atlantic Hope, an estimated seven newborn babies are abandoned in South Africa every day, while the 2018 Child Gauge report reveals over 1 million children are still searching for a family as social workers are struggling to process applications, buried by mounds of paperwork. 

Foster care plays an important role in providing an environment of love and support for children who have had to leave their homes due to alcoholism, substance abuse and neglect.  

So on 31 May for #WorldFosterDay, hoping to spread awareness for millions of displaced children worldwide, we’ll be drawing three smiley faces on our fingers and sharing it on social media. And you can too.

By raising awareness for the movement Kin Culture, the group behind the initiative, hope to ensure more children are placed into healthy foster care. They aim to motivate and mobilise communities to get involved in foster care, and become part of a sustainable solution for the future

Understanding the complexities of alternative care and the great need for responsible foster families will put South Africa on the road to a long-term, sustainable solution.

Find out more about the initiative here: www.worldfosterday.org.

Watch the video below and spread the love this #WorldFosterDay. 

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Do you foster a child? 

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Also read:

• "It will deny thousands of orphaned and abandoned children permanent families": Concerned psychiatrist on the proposed amendments to adoptions in SA
• OPINION: Adoption amendments deny opportunity to most vulnerable children
• OPINION: "Amendments to the Child Care Act will have a damaging effect on adoption in South Africa"