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NEIGHBORS

Rotary club members hear about foster situation in Arizona

Posted 5/25/23

The Sun City West Rotary Club recently welcomed Steven Webb, Events Director for the OCJ Kids, as he shared the work done by the organization as they foster children from several group homes in the …

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NEIGHBORS

Rotary club members hear about foster situation in Arizona

Posted

The Sun City West Rotary Club recently welcomed Steven Webb, Events Director for the OCJ Kids, as he shared the work done by the organization as they foster children from several group homes in the Northwest Valley.

These children have been rescued from abusive homes where many of them suffer from PTSD from all the trauma and neglect they experienced in their homes; 80% of the reason children are in foster care is from neglect. There are more than 14,000 children in the Arizona foster care system and 700 enter the foster care system every month. Eighty children are removed from homes in Maricopa County weekly, 7.6% is the average age of a child in the foster care system, 3,377 foster children are waiting to be adopted, 900 children age out of the system every year at 21 and 60% who age out of the system end up homeless or in prison within a year. Almost 50% of these children do not have a GED or high school diploma.

OCJ provides several programs to help improve the lives of these children. They are taught coping skills to deal with their past traumas and are shown what it means to be loved and cared for. The children get to experience many special events, such as a day at the park, a summer reading program, Bearizona day at the zoo and a Tools for Success program. A school supply drive provides the children with backpacks full of supplies. The One Bright Star Toy Program enables the children to get the kind of toys they really want. The Adulting Summit Career Fair gives the older children information about possible career paths to follow when they graduate, plus they are taught how to search for jobs and how to interview and market themselves. 

Anyone who would like to volunteer or give a donation to OCJ can visit ocjkids.net or call 602-439-2171.

For more information about the SCW Rotary Club and how to get involved with community and international service projects, contact Susan Sagahon, President, Rotary Club of Sun City West, at 480-371-9962 or ssagahon@outlook.com.