To the editor:

As the new executive director of Douglas County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), and a former foster parent, I am writing about an event in May that is important to me and to our county: National Foster Care Month. This is a time to raise public awareness of the need for more foster families, the need to keep siblings in care together and the need to keep children in foster care in their own communities and schools. It is also a time to honor children and young people in foster care as well as the people who open their homes and hearts to them.

Our priorities in Douglas County must be to recruit and train more foster parents, keep children connected to their extended family and support the foster families that we have. I invite everyone to not only thank our local foster families, but to also find out how you can make a difference in the life of a child.

Kerry L. Gaines,

Lawrence