Stanford Sierra Youth &
Families (SSYAF) believes each and
every child deserves the love, safety and unconditional
commitment of a family and the opportunity to develop as a
healthy and productive adult. The organization provides a
continuum
of care to empower youth and families to overcome challenges
together, as well as connects youth in foster care to
permanent
loving families.
“During May, which is National Foster Care Month, we want to bring awareness to the need for safe and nurturing homes for youth in care over the age of 10. These young people never outgrow the need for a loving family. Through our Pathways to Permanency program, older children are connected to a family that can provide a sense of stability, lasting connections and guidance.” — Laura Heintz Psy.D., Chief Executive Officer
SSYAF’s Pathways to Permanency (foster care and adoption)
program is
focused on permanency — “a permanent connection to
a safe, stable and nurturing family for every youth.” The
program
utilizes family-centered practices and supports several paths
for
youth to obtain a lifelong family connection. The first and best
option
is to reunify the youth with their birth family when possible. At
the
same time, the organization works to identify those in the
youth’s
network, a resource (foster/adoptive) family who is willing to
make a
lifelong commitment to the youth through adoption, if
reunification
is not possible.
Last year, with the support of the community, SSYAF’s Pathways
to
Permanency program placed 149 youth with stable loving
families.
With nearly 3,000 local children in the foster care system in the
Greater
Sacramento region, there continues to be a critical need for
resource
(foster/adopt) families to provide the love, safety and
unconditional
commitment that youth in foster care need and deserve.
How can you get involved? There are many ways to support. Make a difference in the lives of local youth through SSYAF today: Foster/ Adopt, Mentor and/or Donate.
For more information, call (916) 344-0199 or visit www.ssyaf.org.
