Our Mission
Connecting potential families to long-term foster care
youth seeking permanent homes.
"What I have learned is that biology has little to do with the creation of a family."
Stop the Bounce is an initiative to support those in foster care in need of a loving home by inspiring all to open their hearts. Stop the Bounce refers to the bounce that many foster care children experience as they go from foster home to foster home without finding permanency. This campaign was first initiated as a children’s book called Stop the Bounce, authored by the President of Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Inc. (FREE), Dr. Christopher D. Long, which is currently in its final publication stage.
"Believe in yourself and find your inner strength to thrive."
FREE seeks to create change on a broad level by assisting established foster care agencies in their adoption process and, most importantly, the foster children in them to connect with their adoptive families as soon as possible.
Our Vision
Education and Engagement. Inspiring Communities to Open Their Hearts to Create Permanent, Stable, Adoptive Families.
Our Mission
Stop the Bounce. Raising Awareness. Promoting Adoption. Connecting potential families to long-term foster care youth seeking permanent homes.
The Facts
There are approximately 415,000 children and youth in foster care in the United States. 1
The number of kids in New York State foster care is approximately 19,302. 1
Of the approximately 238,000 children who exited foster care across the country in 2014, about 22,000 youth “aged out” of the system. That means they did not exit to family or some other form of positive support. 2
Despite the common perception that the majority of children in foster care are very young, the average age of kids in care is nearly 9. 3
In New York City alone, more than 1,000 young people will age out of foster care this year. 4
On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and 7 percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years.3
1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb
2. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. https://www.usich.gov/news/national-foster-care-month-achieving-better-outcomes-for-young-people
Between 18 to 26 percent of foster youth who age out of the system end up in homeless shelters and approximately 50 percent of foster youth fail to find employment after aging out of the system. 4
The 2011 Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth Study estimated that approximately 36 percent of young people who aged out of foster care experienced homelessness for at least one night after exiting the foster care system. 4
3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb and http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport22.pdf
The Public Advocate for the City of New York, Policy Report: Foster Care Part I.
http://http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/sites/advocate.nyc.gov/files/report_foster_care_part_i_aging_out_youth.pdf
