For most children who enter foster care, the ultimate goal is to reunite them with their families. But getting to that point takes a lot of work. Parents have to follow case plans set up by the Office of Children’s Services and meet requirements like getting substance abuse treatment.
Parents also need to maintain relationships with their kids. And sometimes, that requires a little community support.


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Aileen Mcinnis, the director of Alaska Center for Resource Families, which trains foster parents, says foster families may only be together for a short time, but the parents’ attitude can make any interactions impactful.
Parents needs to show the children in foster care “that there’s hope in this world, there’s people that love, there’s people that care for each other, and that being in a family doesn’t have to hurt.”


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“If you give a worker twice as many cases as is reasonably able to be done, the entire system is going to suffer,” said Travis Erickson, the operations manager for the state’s Office of Children’s Services.

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“We wouldn’t be responsible adults if we didn’t keep trying to find families for children, right?" Foster Care Bill Tells the State to Never Give Up on Finding Families for Kids.

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Our Foster Care bill HB 27 passed the House unanimously!!! Onto the Senate now.

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We need to have a debate that looks at the current state of evidence on what it takes to raise healthy, safe and successful children, adolescents and young adults. That evidence supports good common sense. It takes a family; a permanent, respected and supported family. It takes high quality education experiences. It takes a safe neighborhood and engaged communities. Finally, it takes hope; hope that if you are a part of these things you could truly and fairly participate in a life worth living. In too many places in America, including our current foster care system, that kind of opportunity and hope is in short supply. https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/…/kevin-campbell-…/16800

We made the front page of the Juneau Empire for our recent work to pass important legislation to improve permanency for foster youth! This article does a great job covering the issues that our foster youth and members face in Alaska.

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When children are taken out of their homes due to neglect or abuse, they’re under the responsibility and jurisdiction of the State Office of Children’s Services. 
Now, through an agreement signed Wednesday night at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall between the State of Alaska and Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, the Central Council will be able to take over child welfare cases of tribal children. 

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We've been advocating House Bill 27 since last year because we believe that all youth have a right to timely permanence, that the pursuit of a permanent family should never end, children should remain with family and in their communities whenever possible, and shouldn't age out of a system if they aren't ready. Here's what our members have to say about it: