NOTE: This site is presently under construction, please forgive me for any broken links, or other errors as they are only temporary. Also, if you are in a hurry,

PRINT NOW, READ LATER - All the information you will need to assess this site, and return will be on the page.

Welcome to the Canadian After Foster Care Web Site. Although families and individuals whose lives have been affected by foster care span all national boundaries, there are differences in how the various child protection systems work around the world. For this reason I created a distinctly Canadian based web site.

Table Of Contents Art Collective

Art Gallery

Foster/Group Home Database

Email Discussion Group

Family

Home

Links

Message Boards

My Life Story

Newsletter

Story Of An Orphan Named Bill R

My Poetry

Foster Care Records

8mm Film Transfers

Chat Page

Chat Page

Pine Ridge

Events

Remembering September 11 2001

Not to forget the terrible tradgedy that happened in New York on September 11 2001, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy to all those who were affected. And especiallly to all of the children who have ended up in foster care as a result.

Hello there, my name is John Dunn. I am the webmaster of this site. I know there are literally thousands of Canadians out there who have been in foster care for various periods of time.

Some have been adopted into loving homes which have provided them with nurturing, and respect, love and self-confidence building relationships within a 'family' setting.

Others, like my brother and I, were not so lucky. There are thousands of Canadian adults like us, who have been shipped through the system, never adopted, placed in multiple homes, and schools, abused verbally, emotionally, physically, and sexually, while under the protection of the system.

This does not make for a very confident, self-sustaining adult in our society. Many end up in jail, on the streets, or alcoholics and drug addicts. The point here is not to argue the past, but rather to deal with the present.

I personally had been through approximately 13 homes by the time I was 18 years old. To this day, I still struggle with unemployment, welfare, crippling self-esteem problems, emotional ups and downs caused by feeling alone and lost, the emotional pain of not knowing what it feels like to belong to a family, not having family to fall back on when you are in financial difficulties, having your history guarded from you by an agency, and many other things.

We want to feel good in our skin. And that is what I hope to initiate with the resources of this website. I hope to help those who are having difficulty dealing with their self-image and identity of self, and to help each other realise that their experiences in the foster care system can be an asset to themselves, and to others within our community.

This is just the beginning, and I am eagerly looking forward to what our future holds.

I hope The Canadian After Foster Care Web Site will provide fellow Canadians who have lived in foster care, with a strong public voice, and a caring, understanding, helping hand.

Below you will find a list of resources I intend to provide through this web site. If you have any suggestions, please email them to me at afterfostercare@yahoo.com

1. My Story
   This is the story of my life in the foster care system

2. Public message boards
   Interact with others using these message boards

3. Email Discussion Group
   Get to know each other and create a virtual group of friends using this feature

4. After Foster Care Newsletter
   Print our periodical newsletter to keep up-to-date on our latest news and issues

5. Foster Homes National Database
   National database of foster homes, group homes, and previous residents submitted by you! If you have ever wished to get in touch with your foster brothers and sisters whom you have lived with in previous foster homes, why not submit your information here.

6. Annual Family Re-Union
   Lets have an annual "Family Re-Union" of former fosterees. Each year, it will be held in a different province for convenience

7. Records Disclosure
   Learn your rights when it comes to your foster care records. Assistance and moral support for former fosterees while trying to obtain their personal records from the agencies involved in their lives

8. Temporary Housing Relief
   I would like to offer some kind of temporary housing to former fosterees who have slipped through the cracks, and need a last chance at getting back on their feet. This will allow one to take a break from "trying to survive" so that they can focus on what they are good at, and work on finding a way to survive off of these skills. Sometimes we are just not able to fit into the regular 9-5 world and have problems holding these types of jobs, or any type of job for that matter. This will be your chance to find where it is you do fit in, or excell.

9. Foster Care Survivors Art Collective
   I would like to form a Foster Care Survivors Art Collective of artists who have lived in foster care who can travel once a year across the country putting on a show as a collaborative effort

10. Foster Care Related Links
    Visit our friends foster care related websites and groups as well

11. Mail Box
    This is where I am going to submit letters or articles written by you

12. YOUR SUGGESTIONS GO HERE - if you have any other suggestions for this site or would like to assist in any way, financially, or other, contact me at afterfostercare@yahoo.com

In the following section, you will be able to read poetry, and other foster care related written works.

Enter here : http://www.oocities.org/afterfostercare/poems.html

Welcome to the Foster Care Art Gallery. Come in and take a look around at the various works that have been submitted to the Foster Care Art Gallery. I am accepting submissions of all mediums, as long as it is related to foster care.

Sound art, music, video, images, sculpture, what ever you make... No need to be a "professional artist" or anything like that, as you have already earned your right to submit by having lived a part of your life in foster care. That is certification enough in my eyes.

I would like to use my apartment as a gallery as well, so if you are willing to deliver your works to me, please be sure to contact me and let me know. I will be holding various showings throughout the year to the public.

Enter here: http://www.oocities.org/afterfostercare/gallery.html

I have added this banner exchange because of the fact that in all of my adult life, I have never found a community of people who more or less are accepting of me. I have enjoyed many good years, and friends in the Toronto Goth scene.

Even though I have never really "Looked Goth", if I had the money, I would! ;) But it does not matter. I have had the best seven years of my adult life since moving back to Toronto in 1995.

My favorite bar of all was the "Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar". Thanks to all of my friends who I have partied with, hung out with, said hello to, and to those who have simply been part of the "regular crowd" at our beloved old haunt... SKANKS.

This banner exchange is a way for me to thank those of the above mentioned who have websites of their own. ;)

Pssssst! I now to go the Vatikan when I have money since Sanctuary closed July 31st 2000.

Total Visits On April 18 2001 = 529
Total Visits On May 26 2001 = 1858
Total Visits On Nov 14 2001 = 4503

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