Happy National Siblings Day. Group Urges More People To Become Foster Parents

April 10, 2012 is National Siblings Day, an occasion when we are suppose to celebrate the fact that we have brothers and sisters who we have sparred with all of our lives, typically in that loving “I hate you but I love you” type of way. However one agency is using National Siblings Day to raise awareness to the need for many more foster families.

The Milwaukee agency St. Aemilian-Lakeside is looking for parents willing to take in brothers and sisters, allowing them to remain a full family when their parents are no longer around or can no longer care from them.

Speaking to Fox6 Now foster parent Stacie Nikolaus says of the need:

“My mom had taken in kids when I was young, and it just seemed like a natural thing to do, to have kids in our home.”

Over the last 16 years Stacie has taken in 26 children and is married with an 11-year-old daughter of her own.

Speaking about the children she has brought into her home Stacie says in the last six months she has taken in an 18-year old and then two 13-year-old twins, allowing them to stay together instead of becoming separated in the system.

Speaking of the twins and their ability to stay together Stacie says:

“They were more comfortable quicker, than sometimes when you have an individual come. They had each other, to still have that continuity in their lives, so they still have the person they hung out with,” Nikolaus said.

The St. Aemilian-Lakeside organization is a big help in Milwaukee County where at least 50 percent of the counties 1,200 foster children are siblings.

So remember on National Siblings Day it’s not just about siblings, it’s about remembering the importance of family and if you have the means perhaps even reaching out to your own foster organizations and seeing what you can do to keep siblings together.