Fostering Change

In 2015, JLCS created a community advisory board to determine how best to serve the Colorado Springs community. Through several months of research and support from membership, the JLCS discovered that teens and young adults who have been in the foster care system, and whose cases did not reach permanency, are disproportionately affected by risks such as homelessness, incarceration and human trafficking.

The League established Fostering Change, a new focus area to provide youth and young adults in or formerly in foster care with resources focused on the enhanced risk factors unique to this demographic. The League identified that this demographic is uniquely at risk and very often, only requires a relatively small amount of money to avoid much more catastrophic and compounding consequences.

Fostering Change Fund

In 2019, the Fostering Change Fund was established as a component of our Fostering Change focus area. It serves as a means of assisting teens and young adults facing transition out of foster care with specific, short-term monetary needs.

The grants awarded through the Fostering Change Fund are reflective of the Junior League of Colorado Springs’ efforts to participate in community-based collaborative partnerships that work to broaden the educational, cultural, recreational, and health opportunities for children and young adults living in Colorado Springs and to promote volunteerism among women in the community.

Fostering Futures 

Fostering Hope Foundation and the Junior League first began collaborating in 2017, because Fostering Hope was – and remains – the only nonprofit organization providing comprehensive support specific to youth aging out of the foster care system. 

JLCS provides volunteers to help with Fostering Hope’s annual picnic celebration, organized a Foster Parents’ Night Out, hosted a go-kart experience with young adults, and made meals for families. Determined to contribute more, JLCS developed the Fostering Futures program in 2023 as a way to support and partner with Fostering Hope Foundation. 

Fostering Futures is a collaborative initiative between Fostering Hope Foundation and The Junior League of Colorado Springs aimed at addressing the challenges faced by families and youth after making the transition from foster care to adoption. While Fostering Hope brings the necessary expertise and facilitation necessary to create community among these families, The Junior League of Colorado Springs has the ability and capacity to provide volunteer support, funding and community connections as needed to make this a successful initiative.

 Many services once provided to foster families are no longer available after the families complete the adoption process. Fostering Futures seeks to extend the support offered to foster parents to a group that has historically been excluded from support, adoptive families. The goal of Fostering Futures is to provide a network of relational support and resources where adoptive families and children are seen and accepted. 

The program helps adoptive parents navigate the challenges associated with raising children who have experienced trauma and connect them with the resources they need to heal and thrive. The ultimate goal is to fortify former foster families and to provide adopted children with the hope of a brighter future. 

In August of 2023, JLCS presented a $15,000 check as a cornerstone fund for the Fostering Futures partnership.