{"id":575081,"date":"2010-05-21T17:18:31","date_gmt":"2010-05-21T21:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011924485_senclaudiakauffmanonmayfostercaremonth.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-05-21T17:18:31","modified_gmt":"2010-05-21T21:18:31","slug":"sen-claudia-kauffman-on-may-national-foster-care-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/575081","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Claudia Kauffman on May, National Foster Care Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>More than 8,000 in state foster-care system<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Helping Washington\u2019s foster children is a year-round labor of love<\/p>\n<p>May is National Foster Care Month and it has prompted me to reflect on my experiences with the child-welfare system.<\/p>\n<p>Growing up the youngest of seven children in a struggling, working-class family in Seattle\u2019s Beacon Hill neighborhood, money was in short supply, but we always had room for another child, be it a cousin or neighborhood youngster. The motto was: \u201cWe take care of children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before I had my own children, I became a foster parent. I took in 10 teenagers. They filled my home with love and joy.<\/p>\n<p>More than 8,000 children and youth \u2014through no fault of their own \u2014are in Washington\u2019s foster-care system. The state provides training and guidance for foster parents and comprehensive support for foster children whether they are in the courtroom, in a classroom or \u201caging out\u201d of the system. However, the real heroes are the foster, relative and adoptive parents.<\/p>\n<p>Foster parents take care of our children during difficult times. They complement the Legislature\u2019s ongoing efforts to provide stability and support for families and children. I encourage more people to step forward.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Sen. Claudia Kauffman, Kent<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 8,000 in state foster-care system Helping Washington\u2019s foster children is a year-round labor of love May is National Foster Care Month and it has prompted me to reflect on my experiences with the child-welfare system. Growing up the youngest of seven children in a struggling, working-class family in Seattle\u2019s Beacon Hill neighborhood, money [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}