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With nearly 1,000 children living in foster care in Hampton Roads, Tidewater Friends of Foster Care and The Barry Robinson Center will host a Celebration of Families in All of their Forms at Smartmouth Brewing in Norfolk from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 21.

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month and TFFC is running its annual Foster Care Aware campaign, a monthlong push to encourage community members to learn more about foster care and how they can show up to support families in need.

The event highlights the different forms that families can take and aims to increase public awareness by highlighting the “strengths that community can bring” to the foster care system within the region.

Community members, friends and families are invited to Smartmouth Brewery in Norfolk to enjoy events including face painting, a bounce house and live music from area band The Love Monsters while learning how to support foster children in Hampton Roads.

In addition to recruiting more foster parents, Tidewater Friends of Foster Care’s programs for foster youth include tutoring, camperships, extracurricular activities and providing birthday and holiday gifts. The organization is funded solely through private donations and foundation grants and offers all programming free to participants.

TFFC was founded by foster parents Richard Litton and Audra Bullock in June 2016. It serves over 700 foster children annually. For information, visit www.tidewaterffc.org.