Organization Recognizing Foster Kids Advocates in Mt. Kisco
When you’re a foster child, it is an experience that will shape adulthood,
Former Mount Kisco and Bedford resident Tanya Cooper and her late brother, Robert, were abandoned as young children by their mother, who was a heroin addict and alcoholic. Cooper was first moved from Brooklyn to a group home in Bedford.
With the help of her Quaker foster mother, Cooper was inspired to a life of achievement that growing up she could only dream about. She has been a model in New York and Paris, became an author, writer, producer, motivational speaker, and above all, an advocate for foster children.
Today, Cooper is director of Foster Kids Unite, an organization she created to help current and former foster children find lost siblings. There are more than 350,000 children in foster care in the United States and about 9,000 in Westchester County alone.
To change or save lives of foster youth is “my whole goal in life,” Cooper said.
Last Friday she was joined by other advocates to mark National Foster Kids Month at the Mount Kisco Public Library. Her message was clear: become a foster family or volunteer to work with foster children.
The event’s keynote speaker was Pat Anderson, outreach and emergency management director for 211 United Way of Westchester and Putnam. Anderson said United Way is looking for “families that will step up to the plate” to care for foster children.
Having a family is crucial for children–not only when they’re growing up but also when they become adults.
“You need a place to go back to,” Anderson said.
During last Friday’s program, Foster Kids Unite presented Citizen of Change awards to Fonda Allen of New Hope Haven, a transitional housing program for former foster children; Rev. Colleen Holby, director of pastoral care at Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry; and Dan Eisenberg, cultural arts director at the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester in Mount Kisco.
Cooper said the recipients were selected because they enjoy working with children, including many who would benefit from extra attention.
Eisenberg, a musician and part-time music journalist, holds a night music program at the Boys & Girls Club. He said it’s gratifying to be recognized.
“It’s a home away from home,” Eisenberg said of the club while adding that he has developed a “bond with the younger generation.”
Mount Kisco Mayor Michael Cindrich praised the Boys & Girls Club for their work with underprivileged youths and declared May 18 Foster Care Day in Mount Kisco.
The afternoon also included the presentation of several Robert Cooper Memorial Scholarships of up to $500 each presented to foster children, which were funded through donations.
Cooper said if families are unable to adopt foster children there are many other ways to assist. There are volunteer efforts such as tutoring high school-aged youths for their SAT exams, donating gift cards for students to buy books or meals when they go to college, buying a high school prom dress or “adopting” a local family for a day by hosting them for a holiday meal, all of which can go a long way to improve the lives of foster children, she said.
Families interested in adopting a foster child can call the United Way of Westchester and Putnam at 211. For more information about Foster Kids Unite, visit Cooper’s blog at
http://tanya-onthetown.blogspot.com.
