Both longstanding fixtures of and newcomers to the foster care system walked about two miles Friday to raise awareness about a system that provides care for at least 80 children in Athens County.
About 20 people participated in the 4th annual Walk for Foster Care Awareness, showing their support by carrying signs displaying foster care statistics and simple messages, such as “All Kids Matter.”
Participants walked from the Athens County Courthouse, 8 E. Washington St., to Athens County Children Services, 18 Stonybrook Dr.
The goal of the event was to bring attention to the children in the program, the foster and kinship workers and to encourage community members to get involved, said Angie Blakeman, placement supervisor for Children Services.
In 2010, more than 400,000 children were in foster care throughout the nation; in 2012, more than 11,000 are in foster care in Ohio and more than 80 are in Athens County.
The event is sponsored by Athens County Together in Overcoming Negatives, which is a group of alumni of the foster care system who work to provide a voice and make a difference in the lives of youth in foster care, according to a organization newsletter.
The organization is the only program of its kind in Southeast Ohio, Blakeman said.
Since moving in with his foster family three years ago, Shelton Sheall, 18, said his behavior and outlook on life have made a “100 percent U-turn.”
Sheall said he had struggles in the foster care system until he reached his current family and that he wants to promote positive foster care experiences like his own.
“I want to help other foster kids make a better life for themselves,” Sheall said.
One of the keys is to get more kids placed with “good” families, Sheall said, adding that good families help foster kids change for the positive, without putting them down or focusing on the negative.
His foster family helped him to develop a work ethic and to distinguish right from wrong, he said.
After entering the foster care system when he was five, Clayton Fraunfelter was adopted out of the system at the age of nine.
Now a senior studying social work at Ohio University and an intern at Children Services, Fraunfelter said he entered his field because of a passion for child welfare that stemmed from his personal experiences.
His adoption improved his quality of life dramatically and made many more opportunities available to him, he said.
Because he was dealt the best hand he could have been dealt in his situation, Fraunfelter said he wants to do what he can to make sure that the same holds true for all kids currently in the system.
“The system changed my life — more like saved it,” Fraunfelter said.
af116210@ohiou.edu
