Honestly, I am exhausted by the vitriol, hostile and negative climate which has swept over the American political process. It reminds me of two toddlers fighting over a toy; the back and forth game of “it’s mine,” “no, it’s mine,” eventually resulting in one or both parties having a major temper tantrum and someone getting hurt. It’s expected for kids to behave this way, but it’s disgusting for adults to and downright inexcusable for our “leaders” to behave as such. It is distressfully amazing how self-centered, narcissistic, self-righteous and immature we have become as a culture.

July is the official “Make a Difference to Children” month. By implication, it means to make a positive difference in the life of a child; helping them to transform to a healthier, better or improved state or situation through a personal relationship. Unfortunately, the Family Care Network works with children and youth whose lives have become different because of negative or damaging relationships. But our mission, “to enhance the wellbeing of children…,” is fulfilled through our network of individuals making that positive difference.

In most of my 40 years of work within the foster care system, service delivery has, for the most part, been fragmented; each bundled nicely within its own silo. The thought of integrating, or terms like “seamless service delivery,” not only didn’t exist, but were discouraged. Bureaucrats were more interested in protecting their turf, budget, control…or whatever. The thought: “This is just the way we do things...” prevailed; and rarely did the question “can we do it a better way to serve foster children?” come up. The big losers were always the kids.