GREAT FALLS — May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, and the nonprofit Child Bridge is looking to get a statewide movement started to alleviate the need for foster families.
Katie Lynch became a foster parent last year, once she realized the need for them in her community.
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Lynch explained, “It was something I always knew I kind of wanted to do.”
She noted, “I'm not the kid that, like, grew up dreaming of becoming a mom someday. I'm just always someone who's really liked kids.”
Even with the ups and downs of parenting, and a living room full of toys, she wouldn’t change a thing, showing how much of a difference one person can make.
Lynch said, “These children, they don't need you to be perfect. They just need you to be someone that's safe and someone that loves them.”
Ray Biggerstaff, Director of Advocacy for Child Bridge, said, “Foster care is all about caring for a child, for their need, for however long that period of time, may be.”
Child Bridge is a Montana non-profit that finds and equips foster-adoptive families for Montana’s children who’ve suffered abuse and neglect.
There are chapters in Great Falls, Helena, Butte, Kalispell, Miles City, and Missoula.
Biggerstaff said, “Anyone who's willing to say yes, have the faith and compassion to say yes to children in need, could step into that role as a foster parent.”
With National Foster Care Awareness Month coming in May, Biggerstaff wants to get the ball rolling on a statewide movement to address foster care needs.
Biggerstaff said, “There's approximately 2000 children in foster care. And on any given day here in Montana, and about half this number of... half the number of families available for that.”
Fostering a child can change not just the child’s life, but your life as well.
Lynch said, “There's always going to be a reason not to do it. You know, you can come up with a bunch, but, the impact that it has on these children makes it so, so worth it.”
For more information, click here to visit the Child Bridge website.
