The children of the opioid epidemic, removed from parents who are addicted or found dead from an overdose, are flooding a system mandated to protect them but overwhelmed with their numbers. The number of children in the care of Hamilton County Job and Family Services grew from 2,515 in 2015 to 3,556 in 2017. Our community's children need you.

Every couple of weeks or so, Hamilton County child welfare workers pull out a cot between the desks and file cabinets of their downtown Cincinnati office building and put a child to sleep because they can’t find a suitable family member or an available foster home.

"You are sitting out there, excited and relieved at the same time,'' said Laquita Howell, a foster care graduate who is now a mom, a JFS worker, and Lighthouse Board member. "Lean on your mentors, ask for help when you need it." And perhaps most important, she told them to never give up on themselves: "Keep telling yourself: 'I can finish it. I know I can, I know I can.' "