Heart & SOles

About the Project

May is National Foster Care Month. The Foster Care Association of Oklahoma, Inc. (FCAO) wants to celebrate during this month with everyone who has helped foster children in Oklahoma. This celebration will be conducted at 10:00 a.m., May 6, 2008 where everyone will rally on the steps of the State Capitol.

The event has been entitled: Heart and Soles

Over 14,000 pairs of shoes will be collected and placed on the steps of the Capitol to represent each child in foster care. We invite child advocates, kinship, foster, and adoptive parents as well as all others who have touched the lives of these children to this grand event.

We cannot show the faces of our children, but we can show their shoes! It is difficult to describe the importance for the need to support foster children. Our state leaders need to understand that children are our state’s greatest asset and resource. Legislative priorities need to reflect the importance of supporting children, particularly children in foster care. FCAO is encouraging you to call your legislators and tell them you want their support for a 25% room and board increase for all foster children -- they need to find the money -- no excuses. Then invite them to the rally!

Senator Kathleen Wilcoxson has offered to be our legislative partner in this project, keeping her colleagues up to date about the issues we represent and why we are asking for their commitment to foster children in Oklahoma.

We hope people throughout Oklahoma who care about children will begin collecting shoes and spread the word about this project. Just imagine what the Capitol steps will look like covered with 14,000 pairs of shoes, with each pair representing a child in out-of-home placement!

We started this campaign with one thing in mind -- to bring our foster children to life through shoes. We need your shoes. We need you at the rally. If you want things to change, take a day off, bring a van load, and make a difference for every child in foster care. Bring signs covered with painted hearts in support of foster children. (No signs can be taken inside the Capitol)

We thank everyone who has had a part in this enormous task. God has been our anchor through this one step at a time.

YOU CAN’T SEE THEIR FACES – BUT YOU CAN SEE THEIR HEARTS & SOLES Foster Care Association of Oklahoma, Inc. Call for information 405-387-5052 www.fcao.org