Sophia Y-Aiding Children Affected By Foster Care

Welcome to my MightyCause page. 

My name is Sophia Yarmolinsky and I am a part of the Jewish Teen Foundation (JTF).  JTF is a program that creates social changes through philanthropy and supporting non-profit organizations. I am inspired and excited to be able to learn and provide aid to children that have been directly effected by the foster care system. 

This year for the JTF North Board, the mission statement/population chosen is:

The Jewish Team Foundation North Board is committed to supporting youth impacted by the foster care system through organizations/initiatives that provide aid enabling them to have secure and sustainable futures. 

The foster care system is a program where trained caregivers provide a temporary living arrangement/family to children that are put in the system. The most common reasons that admit children into the program are: their parents not being able to take care of them, an abusive household, or they are neglected. Government, state, and local organizations come together to make sure that the children are properly taken care of and accounted for. These children end up going from home to home, family to family, and school to school. It results in many long lasting effects that can hopefully be avoided with the right amount of help. Lots of times, these children struggle with mental health issues and require more support. 

As a mentioned prior, many of these children struggle with minor to severe mental health issues. To cite a statistic, 80% of children adopted into the foster care system have significant mental health issues. This may seem like a small amount of people, but this makes up about 14% of the general population. 

Some mental health issues include:

• PTSD
• Depression
• Anxiety
• ADD
• OCD

It is also proven that children in foster care face obstacles regarding their education and academic life. These youth have higher rates of absenteeism, dropouts, and suspension. All of this affects their future lives and makes it way harder for them to succeed. It is much harder to stay in focus at school because of past trauma. 

Along with mental issues, physical issues are also very commonly experienced. It is a fact that approximately 50% of foster youth are diagnosed with some sort of physical setback. These setbacks include: asthma, loss of hearing, visual issues, and more. All of this coincides with success later in life.  

After reading about the traumas and lasting effects that these youths face in foster care, I strongly encourage you to join us in making a difference by donating today! As our mission statement says, our goal is to help provide support to youth in the foster care system, so they can grow up with equal opportunity for success. At JTF, we will make sure that every dollar will be given to a reliable mission and values-aligned non-profit that is also devoted to serving foster children. It is incredibly unfair that these children have to suffer through so much at such young ages through no fault of their own. They deserve "normal" upbringing just as much as anyone else does. You can make the difference!  Please donate by April 10th, 2023.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to learn more about the experiences of foster care youth, and for your kind donation! It is very appreciated. 

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more; feel free to contact me at sophyarmo18@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you!

Sources:

1. https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/inclusive-mental-health/impact-of-growing-up-in-foster-care-on-mental-health/
2. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/california-students-foster-care-brief#:~:text=Students%20in%20foster%20care%20face,higher%20rates%20of%20school%20mobility.
3. https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/mental-health-and-foster-care.aspx