Couple Fostered Nearly 100 Daughters, Serves as Example During National Foster Care Month

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a retired couple from Ohio provided foster care for about 100 girls over nearly three decades. Ann and Al Hill made room for all of them through their dedicated journey as foster parents.

“At 79, he has trouble walking. Ann is 78. Until last year, they were still fostering,” the newspaper also reported. Al worked as a bus driver and manager for 37 years. He previously served in Vietnam. Ann was described as stern, but she was someone the girls could always call.

“We were a team,” Ann told reporter Keith BieryGolick, referring to how she and her husband were able to help so many girls. “That’s how we did it.”

The Child Welfare Information Gateway reminds us that May is National Foster Care Month. The Information Gateway connects child welfare professionals to relevant and timely information and resources in order to positively impact the lives of youth, children, and families.

“Each May, we take time to acknowledge foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, policymakers, child welfare professionals, and other members of the community who help children and youth in foster care find permanent homes and connections,” The Information Gateway said on its website. “We use this time to renew our commitment to ensuring a bright future for the more than 423,000 children and youth in foster care and celebrate those who make a meaningful difference in their lives.”

Though the Hills mostly fostered teenage girls, the couple does not feel that opening their home up after their biological daughters went off to college was anything special. However, without people who provide positive experiences like the Hills did, countless youth would not have a positive reference point within a family crisis situation.

Ohio-based Beech Acres Parenting Center said that “on any given day in Hamilton County, more than 1,000 children are in foster care, so foster parents serve as a critical community resource.”