This week First Lady Jessica Doyle and Department of Children and Families Secretary Reggie Bicha recognized foster parents Scott and Paulette Drankiewwicz for their incredible commitment to the foster children in Milwaukee County by honoring them with the 2010 Governor’s Foster Care Award.
“People who become foster parents do so out of love and compassion,” Doyle said. “We can’t thank our state’s foster parents enough for unselfi shly opening their hearts and homes to children.”
The Drankiewiczs are ambassadors for the Milwaukee County foster care program and are dedicated to recruiting new foster parents so that children have a safe place to go when needed. They began fostering children but eventually adopted four and hope to finalize a fifth adoption soon. Scott and Paulette understand the importance of continued connections to their children’s biological parents and have developed strong relationships with their children’s birth parents and extended family.
“The parents we honor today have showered the children in their care with what they need most – attention, stability, respect, and most importantly, love,” said Secretary Bicha. “Foster parents do more than provide a safe, loving home; they make a lifelong difference in the lives of a child.”
Eleven foster parents and one foster youth received awards during the ceremony Monday afternoon.
The event also highlighted the need for more kind, responsible parents to step forward and care for foster children. In Wisconsin there are more than 6,500 children living in out-of-home care, and there are approximately 4,000 foster homes.
For more information on becoming a foster parent, please visit http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/children/foster/progserv/fosterparent.HTM.
