Family Focus: Louisiana group says there’s a ‘dire need’ for foster parents

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The National Youth Advocate Program in Louisiana is pushing for more families to provide stability to foster children.

Specifically, there is a need for foster families who can keep siblings together and foster teens.  About 4,000 children are in the foster care system in Louisiana, according to Robin Guillmette, program director for the advocacy group.

“It’s still a dire need. Every day children come into the system at no fault of their own. So we need foster parents that want to open up their hearts and open up their homes to provide some stability, some love and some support for these children that desperately need this,” Guillmette said.

The biggest need is for more families to adopt older siblings and teenagers. Guillmette said many families looking to adopt want babies and younger children.

Guillmette learned that many churches could help, saying, “If every church in Louisiana would support one family becoming foster parents, we could really make a dent in this problem.”

Click here to learn more about becoming a foster parent.

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