PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY – The New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services’ (DYFS) Northern Regional Foster Care Unit hosted its Fifth Annual Foster Parent Recognition Dinner on May 22, 2003, to honor their county foster parents during Foster Parent Appreciation Month. Over two hundred guests, mostly foster parents, attended the dinner organized by chairperson Caryn Kitching and held at The Sheraton Tara Parsippany Hotel in Morris County.

The Northern Regional staff paid tribute to foster parents’ dedication by presenting each with a Certificate of Appreciation and a rose. The staff encouraged current foster parents to continue their good work and to recruit others, handing out recruitment packets of information. The Department of Human Services (DHS) has found that current foster parents, due to their personal experience, are the best people to enlist others.

The event’s theme, “An Evening of the STARS,” was chosen to emphasize foster parents as stars for the good work they do taking in children temporarily and often adopting these children into their own families. Maria DiGiacomantonio, NRFCU Office Manager, welcomed the families with this theme, “Your generosity makes it possible for us to go on and for our children to be served. You are the STARS that children can look up to, not only as role models but for inspiration as well."

DHS Commissioner Gwendolyn Harris consistently echoes this praise, “Words cannot describe the commitment and generosity of our foster parents who open their hearts and homes. Our children in foster care have already experienced so much in their young lives.”

The Northern Regional Foster Care Unit covers Morris, Passaic, Bergen, Hudson, Warren and Sussex counties. The unit, regionalized in 1999, held its first foster care recognition dinner in May of that year and has continued it annually to celebrate Foster Parent Appreciation Month.