What is it?

Research shows that kids who are placed with safe family members instead of in foster care are much more likely to succeed as adults. However, loving aunts, uncles, and grandparents often can’t afford to take in children, or they don’t have the supplies required by law to take custody.  Pasco County has less programs supporting these placements than other Tampa Bay counties, and as a result, its children are placed in foster care at a disproportionate rate.

Pasco County has more children in foster care than Palm Beach and Orange Counties, which have a population 3x larger than Pasco County.  

To address this disproportionality, Voices has teamed with United Way of Pasco County, the Broadrick Family Foundation, Leadership Pasco, Timber Greens Women’s Club and more to make sure family members have beds, car seats, safety equipment and other childcare essentials that are needed for our kids to stay with protective, Sheriff-approved relatives instead of entering foster care, which leads to better outcomes for our kids.

Statistics

Take a look at these 4* kids who were just removed from their homes and are about to enter the foster care system.
*(Really, an average of 42 kids every month are removed in Pasco County. 39% of siblings in Pasco County are separated, the 2nd highest rate in Florida. And then they move homes an average of 1x every 5 months, increasing their trauma and decreasing their ability to develop healthy relationships with every move).

f they enter, and stay in the system until their 18th birthday, like 150 other kids in Tampa Bay do every year, statistics show that….

• 1 of them will be in jail by age 20
• 2 of them will never graduate high school
• 1 will be homeless at 18
• Both girls will be pregnant before 21
• All 4 may have PTSD, anxiety disorders, or other emotional/mental disorders.