Social Services celebrates families with special delivery

Employees at the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services and volunteers from the Blue Ribbon Project delivered 74 packages to their foster/adoptive families as an appreciation gift for National Foster Care Month on Wednesday.

In past years, the department has held a large foster parent appreciation celebration at the end of May, making it their biggest event of the year.

Due to the impacts of COVID-19 and the postponement of all large gatherings, staff and volunteers from the Blue Ribbon Project delivered packages to the homes of each of their 74 local foster/adoptive families in place of their annual celebration. The packages included t-shirts, camp chairs, a Target gift card, a handwritten thank you note, superhero boxes and stuffed animals for the children.

"Each year I look forward to our annual foster parent appreciation celebration and having the ability to personally thank our foster parents for the selfless acts of love and kindness they provide to our children and youth. This year we had to be creative in how we honored our foster parents. We still wanted to say thank you and show them we appreciate them," said Carnitra D. White, county social services director.

Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services currently has 28 families that have been licensed for one year or less, reaching 38% of their total families.

Throughout the month of May, Anne Arundel County DSS has selected multiple families to spotlight on their social media platforms to give them recognition for their years of service to our community.

This year's recipients of the Foster Parents of the Year award are Abby and Everett Devries.

They will be honored both by the Department of Human Services and the Maryland Resource Parent Association for their exceptional commitment and service in exemplifying the National Foster Care Month theme of, "Foster care as a support to families, not a substitute for parents."

Several additional families have shared that being a foster family has changed their life.

If you are looking to become a foster parent or would like to learn more about ways to support foster parents and youth in care, please visit annearundelfostercare.com.

- Dominique Youngblood,

Department of Social Services

Caption: After its annual celebration was canceled, Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services employees, along with Blue Ribbon Project volunteers, delivered 74 gift packages to foster and adoptive families Wednesday to celebrate National Foster Care Month.

Courtesy Photo