AYS is seeking caring adults to care for our foster youth population. If you answer YES to these five questions, then we'd love to talk to you!

1. Do you enjoy working with children and youth?
2. Are you a Kansas resident?
3. Are you at least 21?
4. Do you have a permanent residence (either rented or owned)?
5. Are you willing to work as a team to care for children in need?

To become a resource parent (formerly known as foster parent) in the State of Kansas, an individual must complete required training and meet state guidelines. Please call Jacki Jackson at 913.831.2820, x224 or email her at jjackson@aysusa.org and she will walk you through the process of becoming the difference in a child's life... a foster parent.

More About Resource (Foster) Care at AYS:

• We visit our homes 2 times per month and remain in contact with our resource families at least once a week.
• We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in case of emergency; or when our resource parents just need to talk.
• We provide regularly scheduled trainings, giving our resource parents an opportunity to network with other resource parents while gaining new information and skills.

A Story of Success:  Shelby and Lloyd

Foster parent, Shelby Ross, has been an active foster parent and advocate of AYS for 10 years and has fostered at least 75 youth. Like most youth who walk through Ross' doors, 17-year-old Lloyd Lowery was an angry teenage boy in need of direction and support. In spite of his sour disposition, Shelby became the role model Lowery needed to mold him into the positive and ambitious man he is today.

Although Shelby remembers Lowery as a good kid, Lloyd admits he "started off rough." In spite of his behavior, for Lloyd, knowing that someone genuinely cared about his well-being was the catalyst for taking a hand in his own success. Now, five years since his stay with Shelby, Lowery has become a young man of whom any parent would be proud! He is a married father of two - he and his family are currently stationed in Wichita, Kansas - and he is half-way through his Associates program in Criminal Justice. Lowery is planning to earn a Bachelor's in Child Psychology so he can help kids cope with their problems. When asked if he would become a foster parent like Shelby, Lloyd quickly responded with a "yes!" He and his wife, who also grew up as a foster child, plan to become foster parents once he retires from the military.

If you or someone you know wants to nurture the lives of youth through the Resource Foster Family Program at AYS, please contact our Recruitment Supervisor, Jacki Jackson, at jjackson@aysusa.org or 913-831-2820, ext. 224.