The Children’s Needs Fund fulfills Voices For Children’s mission of providing financial assistance to abused and neglected children in the foster care system. Direct financial assistance for those currently in the foster care system usually covers immediate necessities such as food, clothing, and medical and/or psychological care. Voices supplements the State’s limited allotment to these children for food, clothing, and medical and/or psychological care well as provides for other essentials such as rent and utility assistance so that children and their families have the basic necessities for survival. Some of the other initiatives Voices support include:

	Bear Necessities equips the judges with brand new teddy bears to give to children entering their court room; a gesture of kindness and understanding which helps children feel more comfortable.
	Project Birthday provides children ages one to 18 with a birthday celebration, which many children would never have if not for this project.
	Summer Camp Voices financially provides children in foster care the opportunity to attend summer camp programs primarily through Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department.
	The Holiday Toy Drive provides all children in foster care with new, wrapped toys for the Holidays

Additionally, since exposure to arts and cultural experiences stimulates the imagination and helps kids develop critical, cognitive and creative skills and exposure to such experiences are traditionally overlooked with this population and the public school systems have cut back on their own art programs, Voices For Children has established different and extraordinary opportunities for the children served.

Workshops & Exhibits

Voices For Children has established different and extraordinary opportunities for guided self-exploration through artistic workshops that are led by local photographers and artists. In the workshops, each small group of foster youth meet with the photographer or artist in one or two interactive workshops where they receive artistic guidance, information about the project, necessary supplies and materials. The youth then create their own “works” during the one or two workshops with the photographer or artist. At each final workshop, the photographer or artist assists youth to complete their own creations and helps prepare them for public display or possible publication.

Artist Carlos Rodriguez reviews sketching technique with youth at painting workshop	Shawn Marion distributes holiday gifts to foster kids
Teen warms up on the court with Miami HEAT	Artist Terje Lundaas teaches foster youth glassblowing process during glass art workshop

In 2007, Voices also added life skills workshops, offered exclusively for our youth preparing to transition out of foster care. These education workshops teach participants about nutritious foods, budgeting, cooking, meal planning for the hurricane season, how to prepare for emergencies, job interview skills, etc. and are geared towards young adults who, more often than not, have been in the child welfare system since a very young age, and will soon be living on their own.

If you have any ideas for future workshops or would like to get involved with our current Children’s Needs projects, please contact Dorothy Marin at 305.324.5678 or dmarin@voices4.org.