Did you know only 8 percent of people keep their New Year’s resolutions? Yet so many of us keep making them year after year in spite of these odds. That’s because a new calendar year brings a sense of possibilities and hope. A blank slate. At Fostering Hope, we don’t make resolutions, but we do set annual goals.

Keeping ourselves accountable

Goal-setting is one important way we hold ourselves accountable to our mission. We establish goals to honor the trust placed in us by foster parents and kids, donors, volunteers, child welfare workers, faith partners, businesses and others.

Fostering Hope’s 2018 Goals at a Glance

Here is a brief summary of our goals for 2018:

• We plan to add additional volunteer teams from our faith communities to support even more foster families in our community. This will bring our total number of families served to 45. Our goal is that every foster family on our waiting list has the support of a volunteer team.
• We are expanding the Fostering Adulthood segment of our program to include additional businesses for our Teen Intern Partnership, and we are implementing a transitional housing program. There are approximately 70 teens and young adults in El Paso County who are close to aging out of foster care or are already on their own. Statistically, each one of these kids is at a disproportionate risk of homelessness, criminality and joblessness without our help.
• We will do more to get the word out about what we do. As we speak with others, we find that many are surprised to learn about the shortage of foster parents, the statistics of kids who age out, the devastating effects of trauma, and the fact that there are truly effective ways to be part of the solution. We will be launching a series of informational meetings in 2018 for newcomers who may be interested in this need and how we are addressing it. If you are interested in attending or hosting such a meeting, email Brian Newsome, brian@fostering-hope-test-update.local, and be sure to follow us on Facebook.