To kick off National Foster Care Awareness Month next month, KidsPeace launched a new Web portal to provide foster care teens with a dedicated online resource to discuss and cope with issues relevant to their unique experiences. Rachel will be the spokesperson for the new portal, which launched yesterday. The portal, www.teencentral.net/fostercare, provides information, advice, gaming interaction, peer support, and access to counseling services for children ages eleven to eighteen who are displaced from their familiar environments and social support.

"For foster teens, I imagine developing a sense of community or place offers unique challenges," said Wyatt. "Given the many issues most teens face, having a safe place you can identify with and where you can ask questions is important. For foster children displaced from their home and school environments, I think this online community is a wonderful step in the right direction and I'm proud to support the efforts of KidsPeace."

In 1998, KidsPeace helped pioneer online support services for teens by launching TeenCentral.Net to provide a safe and accessible place for kids. The free site is anonymous and allows teens to log on, submit their stories, and receive professional counseling within twenty-four hours, along with advice from their peers. The foster care portal is the first of several new channels designed to serve the needs of specific teen groups.

For 130 years, KidsPeace has been building on its expertise to give hope, help, and healing to children, families, and communities throughout the United States. Through its comprehensive range of residential treatment programs, accredited educational services, unique psychiatric hospital and foster care, and community-based programs, KidsPeace is dedicated to helping people connect, transform, and overcome their challenges to ensure a stable future, transition to adulthood, and gain independence. Since its doors opened in 1882, more than two hundred thousand children have participated in one of the multitude of programs KidsPeace offers. For additional resources or more information on how to get involved, please visit www.kidspeace.org.

Source: MAOTeen