Make a Difference to Children Month: How Minnesotans Can Help Children Thrive
Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe, supported, heard, and connected.
July is recognized as National Make a Difference to Children Month, an opportunity to focus on the role individuals, families, organizations, and communities can play in improving the lives of children.
At CASA Minnesota, that message connects directly with our work supporting children and youth involved in foster and kinship care.
Making a difference doesn’t always require a major financial contribution or an enormous commitment of time. Sometimes it begins with listening to a child, helping a caregiver find resources, providing access to an activity, supporting an organization serving children, or simply being a consistent adult in a young person’s life.
Thousands of Minnesota Children Experience Foster Care
Children can enter foster care for many reasons, and every child’s circumstances are different.
According to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, 5,570 children were in foster care during 2025.
Behind that number are thousands of individual children with their own personalities, interests, families, friendships, goals, and dreams.
Minnesota has increasingly emphasized the importance of relationships and connection for children experiencing foster care. Maintaining connections with relatives, siblings, communities, schools, and other important people can help provide continuity during periods of significant change.
External Resource:
Minnesota DCYF – Changing Foster Care Through Connection
That means making a difference isn’t always about creating something new. Sometimes it means helping children preserve the positive relationships and connections they already have.
Listen to What Children Have to Say
One meaningful way adults can support children is by listening.
Children need adults who take their experiences seriously and give them opportunities to express their concerns, interests, questions, and goals.
This can be particularly important for children experiencing changes in their living arrangements, schools, family relationships, or daily routines.
Listening doesn’t mean adults will always be able to give children exactly what they request. It means their voices are considered when decisions affecting their lives are made.
That principle is central to child advocacy.
Support the People Caring for Children
Another way to make a difference for children is to strengthen the network of adults surrounding them.
Kinship caregivers and foster families may suddenly find themselves balancing school enrollment, medical appointments, transportation, court requirements, child care, extracurricular activities, and everyday household expenses.
Connecting caregivers with reliable resources can make a meaningful difference.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families provides information and resources for foster, adoptive, and kinship families throughout the state.
External Resource:
Minnesota DCYF – Adoption, Foster Care and Kinship Supports
Community members can contribute as well. Something as simple as sharing information about a local program, helping with transportation, donating school supplies, or supporting an enrichment opportunity can help strengthen the environment surrounding a child.
Give Children Opportunities to Explore
Children need safety and stability, but childhood should also include opportunities to have fun, discover interests, develop talents, make friends, and experience new things.
A basketball program might help a child discover a sport they love.
Swimming lessons can provide confidence and an important life skill.
Summer camp can create new friendships.
Music, dance, art, STEM programs, and other activities can give children new ways to express themselves.
CASA Minnesota’s CASA Cares program helps make these opportunities possible for eligible Minnesota children in foster and kinship care.
CASA Cares focuses on helping children MOVE, CONNECT, and LEARN by providing enrichment grants for experiences and activities that support their growth and development.
Learn more:
CASA Minnesota – CASA Cares
Helping a child participate in an activity they are excited about may seem like a small action, but these experiences can become meaningful parts of childhood.
Use Your Community to Make a Difference
Individuals aren’t the only ones who can help.
Businesses, schools, faith communities, neighborhood organizations, nonprofits, sports programs, and other groups can all become part of a stronger support system for children.
Organizations can sponsor activities, provide supplies, volunteer expertise, share resources, raise awareness, or encourage employees and members to become involved in their communities.
Even sharing reliable information about foster care
