Foster care awareness event being held in Wyoming County

TUNKHANNOCK WYOMING COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— It’s Foster Care Awareness Month, a time to bring attention to the nearly 400,000 children and youth in foster care nationwide.

28/22 News Reporter Sydney Kostus stopped by a theater in Wyoming County that’s helping spread the word.

Popcorn and soda are staples of any theater-going experience, but there’s one thing that many of us take for granted – family.

For Foster Care Awareness Month, the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock is teaming up with the Wyoming County Human Services for an informational panel to help the public learn more about being a foster parent.

“Circumstances change and families move or families move on and so we recognized that we needed to do some sort of recruitment event in order to get the word out that foster families were needed in Wyoming County,” said Deanna Habib, a casework supervisor for Wyoming County Human Services.

Deanna Habib and John Alunni are familiar with the foster care system working in human services, but they say many people don’t know much about the process.

“People say, ‘I was always interested in doing that, but…’ and we want to dispel, you know, put a period at the end of that. What are those ‘buts,’ let’s get rid of that question mark, answer the questions that you may have, [and] provide you [with] the information that you need so you can make an informed decision because it is a very important decision that affects multiple people,” said Alunni, an administrator for Wyoming County Human Services.

The pair has hopes to clear up any misconceptions, such as fostering only being long-term.

“It may be for a night, it may be for a couple of hours, it could be for a weekend, respite of a few weeks, and it could extend beyond that. Who knows,” Alunni said.

The first-of-its-kind event in the county will bring foster families in to answer questions followed up with free pizza, popcorn, and a movie.

Starting conversations about the important topic, Habib says you don’t need to live in Wyoming County to take part. The only requirement is an open mind and heart.

“Foster kids are just like your own kids, right? There’s nothing wrong with them, there’s nothing special about them, they might have lived with some trauma and they just need a loving, safe, home environment where they’re being nurtured,” Alunni explained.

The foster care recruitment event will take place Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock.

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