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A Presentation and Q & A with Cape Foster Parent Eileen Elias and Sonja Deceus Dubuisson, Family Resource Recruiter at the Department of Children and Families Monday, May 13, 1:00 – 2:30 P.M. Free and Open to the Public The number of children in foster care in Massachusetts has spiked by almost 20 percent in the last five years, and now stands at roughly 9,200. “It is a crisis in care largely unaddressed, and the children are paying the price,” the Boston Globe reported last month in a frontpage article. As the opioid epidemic continues to splinter families and overwhelm the state’s child protection system, the state’s Department of Children and Families has been unable to recruit and retain foster parents to meet the increasing needs. The public is invited to learn about the challenges and rewards of both providing and supporting foster care on Monday, May 13 from 1:00 – 2:30 P.M. at Falmouth Jewish Congregation. Two presenters will address the topic and a Q & A will follow. Come hear from Eileen Elias, an experienced a foster parent here on Cape Cod with her husband Stan, who will discuss their experience as foster parents, the children they have supported, and the profound impact it has made on their lives. Joining Eileen is Sonja Deceus Dubuisson from the Department of Children and Families Southern Region, who will identify the various ways foster care supports can be provided and answer your questions. Whether you are personally interested in exploring fostering or would like to be informed about ways that you or an organization you belong to might support children and foster families, this will be an opportunity to ask questions and find out about the needs and means of support. For further information, please call or visit the website or Facebook page of Falmouth Jewish Congregation: www.falmouthjewish.org, Tel. 508-540-0602. Reservations are not required and everyone is welcome at this event in the congregation’s Blanche & Joel D. Seifer Community Center at 7 Hatchville Road. Facilities and parking are accessible to all.