Produced by Ralph Cunningham
Vista Film & Video
DVD, 57:50 minutes. $19.95.
With the highest rate of foster care cases in Oregon, Marion County is a model for bringing together government, businesses and faith communities to provide support for the youth. This documentary, interspersed with vignettes of foster youths, introduces leaders from drug court, law enforcement, social services and churches, who together weave a network of pioneering services.
Family Building Blocks teaches parenting skills for child abuse prevention; Healthy Start visits first-time parents weekly; Family Finders locates relatives of young people who need placements; and the Independent Living Program connects those aging out of foster care with one another. The impressive Forever Home concept from Catholic Community Services creates community homes, where older foster children live indefinitely with foster parents who prepare them for independence.
These committed caretakers offer a visionary blueprint for other communities to follow. (503) 244-1905, http://www.fosteringhopethefilm.org.
