“You can’t always write the beginning of your story, but you can always write the end.” That’s a quote from a foster child featured in the HBO documentary FOSTER, which was previewed Saturday morning for members of NACo’s Human Services & Education Policy Steering Committee Joint Subcommittees meeting at NACo’s Annual Conference in Clark County, Nev.

County officials can help write those endings by advocating for children in trouble, several panelists noted. Arapahoe County, Colo. Commissioner Nancy Sharpe, who chairs the committee, kicked off the meeting, introducing speakers to a standing-room-only audience.

“Tools like this show you’re not alone,” said panelist Clark County, Nev. Commissioner Lawrence Weekly. 

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Find community leader toolkits related to the HBO FOSTER film here.

Foster care needs families, champions

Weekly said everyone in the room has the power to help foster children in their communities. “It’s about us connecting dots, sharing resources,” he said. “It’s about collaboration and stepping out of our comfort zones. So many of us are operating with the way things used to be done. Kids need real people to step up and do the right thing.”

California State Association of Counties Executive Director Graham Knaus moderated the discussion about FOSTER, after NACo members saw a 20-minute preview of the film.

“There is no organized system to get people to volunteer [to become a foster parent],” said Deborah Oppenheimer, producer of the film. “There’s no standardization of the names [of the foster care programs].” Programs for protecting children “need to move to a preventative model,” she said. 

The reasons she made the film include discovering her own mother was a foster child, who had been rescued as a child during the Holocaust. “We did it to create social impact and everyone in this room has the ability to help bring about change,” Oppenheimer noted.

Panelist Diane Iglesias, senior deputy director, Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles County, Office of Child Protection, noted that “the movie … put a face back on the kids. We tend to see data. As administrators, we don’t get to see their faces. It reinvigorates your dedication again. It reminds us why we do what we do.”

Partnerships and collaboration are two of the most important tools county officials can use to improve child welfare in their communities, according to William Bell, president and CEO of Casey Family Programs, which provided funding for the film project.

Bell likened the problem to the efforts to send someone to the moon in the 1960s. “If we really want to choose to do this, then we can,” he said.