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Education: Challenges for Children, Challenges for the System
The Second Annual UMass Lowell Foster Care Awareness Day will be held Thursday, May 1 from 1:00-5:00 pm in Room 222, O’Leary Library, 61 Wilder St. on the UMass Lowell South Campus as part of National Foster Care Month.
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It was a wonderful afternoon! Click here to see the Introductory Presentation Photos to follow
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Our theme for this year is Education: Challenges for Children, Challenges for the System. We are in the process of gathering panelists representing children in care, parents providing foster care, educators, and child welfare workers. A keynote presentation will be offered by members of the Trauma & Learning Policy Initiative, a joint venture of the Harvard Law School and Mass Advocates for Children.
Last year we has a shirt display. This year's awareness display will be a Shoe Show. We are collecting new shoes, each pair to represent a number of children in foster care in Massachusetts. At the end of the event we will donate the shoes we have collected to child welfare agencies involved in the foster care system for distribution to children in care. Our goal is to acquire a pair of new shoes for each child in foster care in Massachusetts--that's over 11,000 pair of shoes! Collecting 1100 pair would be one for every 10 children, 110 pair would provide shoes for every one out of every 100 children in foster care. How close can YOU get us to our goal??
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THANK YOU! Many of you donated to our shoe display. Thanks to your generosity, our University Sponsors (see below) and The Building 19 Foundation, we gathered over 100 pair of new shoes! It was a powerful display of 1/100th of the number of children in foster care, and they will be on the feet of children and youth within the week.
We will continue to take donations throughout May, National Foster Care Awareness Month. Checks should be made payable to UMass Lowell/FCAD and sent to Dr. Doreen Arcus, Dept. Psychology, 870 Broadway, Lowell, MA 01854 ATTN: FCAD Donations of new sneakers--any size--can be delivered to the UML Psychology Department, Mahoney Hall 110A or UML Honors Program, Southwick Hall 320 Please let us know if you would like a receipt for tax purposes
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Events will feature presentations by the Trauma & Learning Policy Initiative, MA Families for Kids Speak Out Team, a group of young adult foster care alumni, who will discuss the experience of growing up in care. Additional speakers from the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Kid’s Net, and Casey Family Services will discuss ways in which individuals can contribute to the welfare of children and youth in the community and on campus, as well as career options for students interested in related professions.
This event is free and open to the public.
Click here for information on The First Annual UML Foster Care Awareness Day
Click here to see a feature article in the Lowell Sun
We are grateful to the following UMass Lowell departments for
their generous support:
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More information posted as it becomes available. Questions or suggestions: FCAD@uml.edu To contact Dr. Doreen Arcus, faculty organizer Doreen_Arcus@uml.edu or 978-934-4172 |