DCFYI

I decided to become involved with youth in foster care after seeing a documentary on at risk youngsters.

My first thought about DCFYI was that it was an innovative approach to providing support to teens in care without having to make a weightier decision about adoption, which is my hope for any child without a permanent family.

Volunteers should feel free to support the program to any extent that they can.

My approach has been to support the overall program, by attending as many events as possible, typically held monthly, and if a match developed organically with a participant over time, it would.  Over the course of the almost nine years as a volunteer, I have been able to get to know most of the youth at the monthly events and they have gotten to know me. 

After about three years of supporting the overall program I was matched with a mentee. It was a great fit that lasted over four years. But, as with most relationships, life enters and choices can sometimes take us on new paths away from familiar friendships, and so upon reaching those late teenage years my mentee has moved on but is not far away my and the DCFYI family’s thoughts.