NEWSPAPERS

They came from all over the Northwest and converged on a summer camp in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, for the second year in a row.

All the campers were there with their siblings, but sometimes their siblings were strangers. If they weren't strangers, they were people who shared some awful memories.

Last month I wrote about Karyn Schimmels, a child welfare worker in Oregon's Department of Human Services, who last year, on her own time ...

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Near the end of the movie "Ocean's Thirteen," George Clooney turns to Andy Garcia and says he can't return the $72 million he owes him; he's given it to a charity called Camp To Belong.

If only it were true.

The movie may be fiction, but there really is a Camp To Belong. In fact, there are seven of the camps, scattered across the United States and in Canada. Every summer those camps fill with foster children who are reunited at camp with brothers and sisters who live in other homes, in other places.

Camp To Belong Northwest just finished its second annual weeklong family reunion ...

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INTERNET

Since third grade, Beth B. had bounced back and forth between her biological mom's house and various foster homes. She rarely saw her five brothers and sisters because they lived in different foster homes...

see more at: "A Need to Belong"

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RADIO

"OK, so it starts 'A Boom Chica-Boom'." (Crowd of voices echo back)

At this remote lakeside retreat in North Idaho, camps gets under way just as you might expect. Enthusiastic counselors, campfires and really silly camp songs.

But the campers arriving today from around throughout the Northwest have more than toasted marshmallows and mosquito bites to look forward to.

Camp to Belong is all about reconnecting brothers and sisters who have been separated by the child welfare system. Despite state policies that make it a priority to keep kids together whenever possible, siblings often end up apart. Some of these campers haven't seen each other for months, or even years. (Running time: 6 minutes, 51 seconds)

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