The Enay Foundation

Join us for our FosterCareForward series each Friday in May--30 minute virtual huddles where we'll share insights, resources, and networks for all who work within or are involved with the world of foster care. Register here to get the Zoom link:

enayfoundation.org/upcoming-events

We look forward to celebrating National Foster Care Month with you!

EVENTS | The Enay Foundation

‘The Little Flowers Are Me, Unbloomed’ The See Me project has helped dozens of Georgia foster teens in group homes turn their lived experience into paintings, poems and sculpture.

National Foster Care Month
Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities.

Across Georgia, we’ve spent time listening to youth, caregivers, and providers across the foster care system. What we’ve heard is consistent, and it challenges many of the assumptions we often make about why outcomes fall short.

The issue is not a lack of resources. For caregivers and practitioners who know where to look, there are many tools, programs, and supports available.

The real challenge is fragmentation.

Foster care operates as a disjointed ecosystem, sometimes an ecosystem of competing interests and structures that don’t align. Over and over again, this issue breaks the continuity of care, especially as youth bounce from one placement to another, county to county, school system to school system. As a result, so many resources that should support successful transitions to adulthood rarely reach youth in time to make a difference.

**This is not a problem we have to accept--there are solutions.**

There is a better way forward—one that focuses less on creating new programs and more on strengthening connection, coordination, and shared purpose across what already exists.

At The Enay Foundation, we are working to bring partners together across regions to strengthen those systems—while also providing direct support to youth and caregivers.

We believe real progress starts with

* engaging honest, solutions-focused conversations,
* promoting innovation that closes support gaps, and
* ensuring that young people themselves are actively shaping the systems designed to serve them.

Throughout May, we’ll be sharing:

* practical tools for caregivers
* insights from youth and the field
* and opportunities to connect through info huddles and conversations

If you are a caregiver, partner, or community member, we invite you to engage with us.

We don’t need to build another “thing.”
The path forward is collaboration—working together to better align the resources, relationships, and supports that already exist.

Let’s move forward—together. Sign up for one of our 30min resource huddles here:

enayfoundation.org/upcoming-events

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✨ As the year comes to a close, we’re reminded of something we see every day: when young people have the right support, their futures are re-written!

At The Enay Foundation, we walk alongside youth—many navigating foster care and major life transitions—to build academic confidence, career readiness, and real pathways forward.💡

Thanks to recent year-end gifts, this work continues—and there’s still time to help.

If you’re just learning about us, a year-end gift is a meaningful way to get involved and connect with our work. Your support helps turn potential into progress right here in South Georgia. 💙

⏳ Give before December 31 and help a young person move forward.
👉 https://www.enayfoundation.org/give

Thank you for believing in opportunity and brighter futures for youth in care!

GIVE | The Enay Foundation Connect with us using the form in the footer below, and we'll keep you updated on opportunities to volunteer with us in 2025!

Youth in foster care often have a complicated relationship with the healthcare system. As of this writing, the Georgia Department of Human Services currently records 29,096 cases of child abuse, endangerment and neglect.

Foster families and group homes often see these children arrive with a poor history of medical and dental care, as many families implicated in these cases aim to avoid the trained eyes of community professionals. The system's response to the discovery of healthcare issues is usually swift and intentional, but hampered according the resources available in the vicinity of the child's placement (healthcare deserts in Georgia's rural areas often leave caregivers navigating a broadly scattered network of compatible healthcare providers). Nonetheless, finally, children receive needed care.

But foster care brings its own set of new challenges as well--sometimes the pendulum swings too far in this new ecosystem of sometimes competing interests with counselors, physicians, therapists, and more providing uncoordinated input. For instance, the data shows that youth in care become subject to psychotropic medication regimens at rates far beyond their peers, with a sharp drop off in all healthcare access after aging out.

We see opportunities for youth in care that the healthcare community is uniquely positioned to provide. Read more for background on our solutions, including everything from our training modules for caregivers, to The Enay Foundation's new pathway to healthcare support careers, helping youth earn cycle-breaking wages in high-demand opportunities. Partners like you help these ideas grow.

https://wix.to/kouQ1t8

The Healthcare-to-Foster Care Connection Youth in foster care often have a complicated relationship with the healthcare system. As of this writing, the Georgia Department of Human services currently records 29,096 cases of child abuse, endangerment and neglect. Foster families and group homes often see new children arrive with a poor histo...

It's official: The Enay Foundation is an Affiliate Partner of Just Love Coffee Cafe, a coffee family dedicated to making a positive impact in the world--especially for families in the adoption process. Through this generous program, 20% of every purchase made through our affiliate link will to go directly toward our programs for youth in foster care.

This is alignment at its best. Just Love's company ethos resonates deeply with our work at The Enay Foundation, and sets the stage for a great collaboration. So whether you're a coffee drinker yourself, or just keep company with others who are, add a little boost to that next brew by buying here. You might even consider making Just Love your home or office coffee supplier by ordering from our link each month--the possibilities are endless.

Check out the full story here: https://wix.to/RlSjStu or visit our home page to order your new favorite roast!

This episode highlights Kira. You'll be inspired by her compassion for her peers and impressed with her aspirations for herself, but please remember that young people like Kira need help--someone to build a bridge and support them across the foster care chasm. The journey's not over, and there are many steps ahead before she'll see these dreams come true, but with your help, she'll make it! See her video here: https://wix.to/bqPPdcR

The South Georgia Diversity Committee (SGDC), an initiative of Greater Valdosta United Way, invested $3,500 in The Enay Foundation's conflict resiliency work among foster care programs in the South Georgia region. Conflict resiliency is one of the pillars of the Enay Foundation's work, as it directly contributes to healthier interactions between youth and their caregivers in environments that are often rife with competing interests, power struggles, and poor outcomes. When youth see adults as trusted allies, they stay connected to their support systems longer, and have greater chances of clearing the Foster Care Cliff.

Read more here:

www.enayfoundation.org

We're actively expanding our footprint, working to strengthen networks and improve outcomes of the state’s foster care ecosystem with support including a $25,000 investment from the Georgia Power Foundation this past summer.

While working with stakeholders across the state, The Enay Foundation also provides direct services to youth in care through a three-part system of support to demonstrate what it takes to close the gaps: Professional Development & Conflict Resiliency Support for Youth & Caregivers, Fully-Mentored Transition to Independent Living Support, and Foster Care-to-Career Pipeline Support.

Read more here: https://wix.to/1c8ukXi

Two years ago, our friends at Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice in Atlanta reached out to us to help gather and curate lived experience stories from youth in foster care in the south Georgia region, where we are headquartered. The video included here is one of many we've put together for the project.

As you watch this video featuring Rekki's story, you'll certainly think, "this kid's got it together--he's well on his way!", but please remember that young people like him need help--someone to build a bridge and walk with them across the foster care cliff. He is bright, and you'll hear him speak of his goals, but success won't come by chance.

When you support the Enay Foundation, you support our ability to provide a fully-mentored ecosystem of supports to help young people like Rekki break the foster care cycle.

See the video here: https://wix.to/xeaC0OP