Lifting Families Together – June is National Reunification Month!

About 130 children in Okeechobee and the Treasure Coast went home to stronger, healthier families this past year after time apart for a variety of reasons – most commonly substance-abuse or mental-illness issues that can be overcome through local resources and a strong support system.

Children belong with families, said Jerra Wisecup, licensing and caregiver support specialist. We celebrate our foster families who give children temporary respite and our adoptive families who offer permanency.

But it’s a special cause for celebration when we can return children to their own homes, she said. That’s what we celebrate in June, during National Reunification Month.

It’s not easy, Wisecup said. Entering foster care is a traumatizing experience for everyone; for parents, it means entering a complicated and confusing system, not knowing what’s ahead or even if they’ll see their children again.

“Most families recognize that they need the services – the help – we offer,” she said. “They work hard and they get through it, stronger, healthier and with better coping skills that make them better parents.”

National Reunification Month recognizes those efforts, as well as the people and institutions supporting the reunification journey.

The community can get involved by interacting with the CCKids Action Calendar, an initiative started two years ago to connect the local community with clients, case managers, guardians, caregivers and everyone involved with getting kids home to their families.

The calendar offers a different way to get involved each day– for example, sending a text message of encouragement to a mom trying to maintain sobriety or a family support worker who drives a child across the state so she can visit with siblings.

We’ve included the calendar below. Just click anywhere on the calendar to submit a message of hope. We’ll get it to the right people!

And don’t forget to follow our Lifting Families Together campaign on social media. Throughout the month, we will recognize our reunification heroes – case managers, substance abuse and mental-health providers and others in the community who helped make reunification possible for children throughout the year.

With your help, we are lifting families together.