Artist Statement

      My name is Frank Blinkewitz, I am a third year student at the University of Milwaukee pursuing a Communication degree.  This semester I decided to take a class titled Multicultural Film 150.  Part of this class involves a component called Service Learning.  Service learning is a way to learn about a particular subject through actively being a part in the learning process.  The Service Learning component that was selected for this class has us actively involved in the Foster Care organization known as Kids Matter.  Through the course of the semester we have been researching the different aspects of Foster care and have each chosen a specific aspect that we have focused on to develop our blog sites that are going to be linked together to create one ultimate archive for the use of the Kids Matter organization.  

The direction I chose to focus on was the actual Foster Parents.  Why did they become Foster parents to begin with?  What drove them to pursuing Fostering children?  Was it a religious calling, as was the case for the O'brien family or was it simply just a need to help these children out of a bad situation?  What I found out is that it is a multitude of things that pursue people to raising Foster children.  Everyone has different reasons for being a foster parent.

The route that I took in developing my blog was to show different point of views of Foster families and also show some of the hardships that have been affecting families that have foster children.  I wanted to also have some hard facts on hand about Foster Care, so whoever is reading the site can reference them when needed.  The result was a site that is rich in information regarding the Foster care system and also gives a intimate look into the life of one family that has risen above all the different obstacles in their life to be a beacon of hope for many Foster children in need.  This family that I am speaking of is the O'brien's.  There story is a central part of the blog, because it is a story that I felt needed to be told.  

By all means am I a expert in putting together a blog.  This was actually my first blog that I have ever created.  The experience has been a thought provoking one.  To tell you the truth I have never really thought that much about the Foster Care system.  I had no idea about how the system operated or even the reasons for it.  In researching for this project I have learned a great deal about how the system operates and to be more clear on my topic of interest, I have a much better understanding of why people become Foster parents in the first place.  With that said I hope that this blog will provide you with the information you are looking for and also be a great resource for those involved with the Kids Matter Organization.