MEDIA RELEASE FROM OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR:

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue, joined by First Lady Mary Perdue and the Casey Family Program, kicked-off the Raise Me Up campaign, a national multimedia campaign that spotlights the challenges foster children face and urges the public to be a part of the solution.

“Mary and I have had the privilege of caring for eight foster children and that experience proved to be one the richest of our lives,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “But, as this campaign reminds us, you don’t have to raise a child to raise them up. You just have to raise your hand and volunteer to help.”

The campaign is a collaborative effort between Casey Family Programs, the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) and a host of local community partners. Casey Family Programs is the largest national foundation whose sole mission is to find permanent homes for children in foster care.

“Keeping our families strong and our children safe requires the commitment of everyone in our community,” said Cari DeSantis, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications for Casey Family Programs. “Raise Me Up is more than an awareness campaign. It is a call to action on behalf of children right here in Georgia. A bright future, a good education and a loving, life-long family are all within reach for these children. All it takes is for someone to raise their hand and say they’ll help.”

Raise Me Up is a critical component of Casey’s 2020 Strategy, which seeks to reduce the number of children in the American foster care system by half over the next 12 years and reinvest the savings to strengthen families and improve child welfare, education, employment and mental health services for children in foster care. Over the next few years, the Raise Me Up campaign will be one of the largest efforts of its kind to raise awareness about the challenges foster children face and what people can do to serve.

“Every child in Georgia deserves a loving, permanent family,” said DHS Commissioner B.J. Walker. “This campaign is part of a statewide effort to break through the barriers that have kept many foster children from finding a ‘forever family.’”

Television ads for the Raise Me Up campaign will premiere on October 15, 2009, and will continue to air across the metro Atlanta area for two months. The ads highlight the challenges many foster children in America face when they are unable to find a safe, loving and permanent family.

The ads can be viewed at www.RaiseMeUp.org.

The Web site features three ways to get involved:

· “Raise Your Hand” links visitors with community-based organizations in the Atlanta area that need volunteers to serve children in foster care. These programs offer a wide range of opportunities to help, including mentoring, volunteering, fostering and adoption.

· “Raise Awareness” provides opportunities for people to get engaged with community events and forums that focus on foster care and child welfare issues.

· “Raise Your Voice” provides easy-to-find opportunities for people to connect with elected officials and other opinion leaders on foster care issues in Georgia and across the nation.

In addition to DHS, 12 community-based partners in metro Atlanta will be prominently featured on the RaiseMeUp.org Web site. They include: Adoptive & Foster Parent Association of Georgia (AFPAG), Atlanta Urban League, Bethany Christian Services, Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta, Georgia Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Catalyst for Care, FaithBridge Foster Care, Families First, Georgia Association of Homes & Services for Children, EmpowerMEnt – an initiative of MAAC, Prevent Child Abuse Georgia and the Center for Working Families.

For more information on how to get involved in the Raise Me Up campaign, please visit www.RaiseMeUp.org.