National Foster Care Awareness Month 2025

Published on April 23, 2025

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. The first Tuesday of May is National Foster Care day and individuals are encouraged to wear blue to support youth in Foster Care.

There are two primary goals of Foster Care Awareness Month:

• To raise awareness of the challenges and needs of kids in foster care, and

• To inspire more people to consider fostering or find a way they can show care and support for vulnerable children.

Foster parents are important for so many reasons, but the primary need for children in foster care is to have caring, flexible, and stable individuals who can provide a safe and nurturing environment during this time in the child's life. These are children who have been abused, neglected, and/or are dependent, and more than anything they need someone with the patience and consistency to help them navigate through this very hard time. 

In recent years, there have been between 10-12,000 children in foster care in North Carolina. With approximately 6,000 licensed foster homes in North Carolina, there is a significant foster family shortage in our state. Sampson County currently has 111 foster children and only 13 licensed foster homes in our county.

Sampson County DSS does offer community members the opportunity to become licensed foster parents and offers these trainings twice a year. If you are interested, please contact Melisa Newman at 910-592-7131 ext. 3330.