Children in Alabama\u2019s foster care system will now receive a free book every month through country music legend Dolly Parton\u2019s literacy nonprofit. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery child in Alabama deserves a strong start, and that foundation begins with reading,\u201d said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey in a news release. \u201cBy putting a new book in the hands of our youngest Alabamians each month, we are planting the seeds for a lifetime of learning and success.\u201d<\/p>\n
In partnership with the state Department of Early Childhood Education, the Department of Human Resources will automatically enroll all children ages 0-5 in foster care in the Imagination Library<\/a> program from Dolly Parton. <\/p>\n Those children will receive a free book in the mail every month as part of the program. The books are promised to be high-quality and age-appropriate.<\/p>\n Since 2023, Alabama has participated in the Imagination Library program, which provides a free book every month for children from birth to age 5, so long as parents or guardians sign up for it. <\/p>\n Now, Alabama\u2019s DHR will handle the enrollment for foster children at no cost to the foster parents. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the life of a foster child, circumstances are ever-changing, and these monthly books will be something these children will look forward to every month,\u201d said Alabama DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner in a news release. \u201cGifting these books will be one way we work to ensure success in their life later down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Foster care parents caring for a child in the program\u2019s age range should expect a letter in the mail explaining the details of the program, according to the news release. Children will automatically roll off the program after their fifth birthday. <\/p>\n Founded in 1995, the Imagination Library initially provided books to children in Sevier County, Tenn., where Parton grew up. It quickly expanded and today sends books to children all over the U.S., as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Ireland. <\/p>\n Around one in seven children in the U.S. under the age of 5 receives monthly books from the Imagination Library, according to the news release.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children in Alabama\u2019s foster care system will now receive a free book every month through country music legend…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":169704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-169703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115079327258295005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}