“The county is not in the business of finding children for families. Rather, it is finding families for children,” says foster mother Sharon Astyk. “That sounds like a small difference but it’s an important distinction. The county is child-centered. This is not about going and picking out a kid.”

The requirement for a child’s placement should be a loving home. To deny children in need access to such homes because of prejudice codified into government rules is against the founding principles of our nation.

There are about 16,000 children in foster care in New York State, says Sandra Flach of Justice for Orphans. She wishes more churchgoers would open their homes to foster children, but says there are other ways to help. 

Charlie Muller, the pastor of two churches, one in Albany and the other in Colonie, runs gun-buyback programs and many programs to provide food to needy children. He wants to open a home in Guilderland to provide respite care for foster families. 

The Rotary Club’s annual youth recognition event is a “program that the Rotary Club of Albany has been doing for three decades,” said organizer Brian Barr. “Our whole mission is affirmation for them.”