OUR UNITED STATES FOSTER CARE ALUMNI TEAM WILL BE HOLDING A REPORTING EVENT ON THEIR MOST RECENT TRIP TO JAPAN !!

Based in Seattle, International Foster Care Alliance [IFCA], is the only nonprofit organization that connects child welfare between the United States and Japan, and has foster care alumni teams in both countries.

In September 2014, four of IFCA’s United States Alumni Team members visited Japan to improve the Japanese Foster Care System which currently faces a human rights crisis. The alumni members will make presentations on their experiences from this remarkable 2-week trip at the University of Washington on Suturday, January 10^th, 2015, and you are invited to join us.

[Please see the attached flyer for detailed event information.]

These 4 young people, aged 20 through 27, grew up in various foster care settings in the state of Washington, including group and foster homes. They all have years of youth leadership experience. Using their own voices and abilities, they advocated for the improvement of their peer foster youth’s rights and the foster care system in the US. Their profiles and life stories in both English and Japanese can be viewed from the IFCA alumni blog website.    http://ifcaseattle.org/youthandalumni/

In Japan, most foster children still live in orphanage-like large facilities and the Japanese government is being pressured by the United Nations to move these children from institutions to family-like settings such as foster and kinship homes. The most recent Human Rights Watch report reveals the reality of Japanese foster youth who are not given voices to tell their own foster care stories. The IFCA United States Alumni Team has been using their knowledge and skills to help build a foundation for youth-lead advocacy movement in Japan.

During the September trip, the US team visited 8 facilities in 4 major Japanese cities, held 2 youth summits, one workshop and one press-conference, spoke at a world-wide child abuse scholastic convention and played a leadership role at a world youth conference. In addition, the team connected with foster youth and alumni of care, foster parents, facility workers, community organizers and policy makers.

Please spread the word about this extraordinary reporting event that illustrates the reality of the foster care in Japan and to learn how to support this growing movement of young people who are trying to improve the lives of their peer foster youth beyond language and cultural barriers. As our team members say, “Foster care is a universal issue that requires global engagement and support.”

If you want to speak to our alumni members and/or if you want to know more about our organization, please feel free to email us at info@ifcaseattle.org or call us at (206) 661-8225.

Thank you.

Miho Awazu, President, IFCA