Recommendation to receive and file the presentation about Share Your Heart...Share Your Home to raise awareness about the need for foster and adoptive parents and weekend hosts, and recognize local foster parents who are providing stable homes to children in Long Beach.
And so we're actually moving this up. We have a large group here for that. And so Councilman Austin is has moved that up. So we're going to hear that item. It's actually item, I believe, to actually be I'm 36, but we're moving that up. So, Madam Cook, do you want to read the item? But we're going to do it as a presentation. Item 36 is communication from Councilman Austin. Recommendation is to receive and file the presentation about share your heart. Share your home to raise awareness about the need for foster and adoptive parents. Thank you, Councilmember Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And we just want to make everybody aware that May is National Foster Care Month. And it's time to recognize that we each can play a part in enhancing the lives of children and youth in foster care. Each month, DCFS investigates nearly 10,000 reports of child abuse and neglect in L.A. County. Here in the South County, which covers the city of Long Beach, they investigate an average of 900 referrals each month. Currently, there are over 500 children waiting to be adopted and waiting for a loving foster home. If you're interested in learning more about becoming a foster or an adoptive parent, please attend our third annual Foster Care and Adoption Expo on June. 11th Saturday at Columbia City College from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.. And this is our third annual event. We've done it in conjunction with Supervisor Duncan Nobby's office. Long Beach City College. Obviously, kids save and extraordinary families. Today, we actually have a couple of families here, local families who have gone through the adoption and foster process. And we want to make sure that we recognize them here this evening. We have Scott Parks I'm sorry, Scott Park, Sparks and Wilbur Rubio, who set out to adopt in 2013. If you guys stand. Thinking they would adopt a boy and a girl. They ended up falling in love with a trio of two boys and a girl. Giovanni, Genesis and Angel are now members of their family. Let's give them a round of applause and welcome. We also have this evening with us this evening, the Churchill family, Eric Churchill and his wife, Amy. They have fostered a total of 17 kids over five years. They ended up fostering and then adopting and adopting Ariel standup, Ariel Wave, Ariel, Esmé, Samantha and Tabitha just last year. They are residents of the eighth District and neighbors of mind. And if we could ask the family to please stand as well. And we are this event that we do every year focuses on on families, allows them to tell their stories, but also allows individuals who have a loving heart and who have great homes to the opportunity to learn more about how they can be a part of this. This really turning lives around of young people, for young people. I want to thank Yvonne Christiano from L.A. County, DCFS, who is also here with us and who will be partnering with us on June the 11th. So if I could get the families to come up and join me, I want to give you a certificate and actually have the mayor come up and take a picture as well. Thank you. Council members. If you want to join us, it would be great to. Oh. Okay. The reason. Are you thinking? Okay. This is. Mayor. Can we have the kids in front step forward to the front? All right. Here we go. All right, everybody, get around the mayor, please. Yeah. Well, these are not healthy for your heart. You don't get far from the other side. Okay, well, we. Yeah. Oh, okay. Here we go. Know. Yes. Now I see. Wow. Everybody, look up here, please. Right up here. But. We need to think. I think it goes. You guys, I don't know how. To make it easy. But it's hard. Okay. That's item 25 as a public comment on this item, which was the foster item? KC None. Members, please go ahead and cast your vote on the item, please. Bush and Kerry. Great. Thank you. Next. Next, we're going to have the next presentation, which, again, it goes back to Councilwoman Gonzalez. And this presentation has a companion agenda item, which is 25. And so we'll do the presentation with the companion agenda item, because I know that our seniors are here with four on behalf of the commission as well.