Growing up in Oregon, Ty Burrell remembers his dad’s career as a social worker and the impact it had on him. "He was a caseworker in the foster care system," says the actor. "He did not give details, but I was well aware of how challenging the system was and how hard it can be on the kids.
That was always his point of view at the dinner table —figure out what’s best for the kids." Burrell’s dad, who also worked as a family therapist in the foster-care system, died in 1989.
Years later, “I had been looking for something in that area to be involved in [philanthropically],” says Burrell. His awareness of the challenges faced by children in the foster-care system — only 3 percent of kids who age out of foster care, for example, earn a college.
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