BGE Employee Recognized for Contributions to Baltimore Foster Care System 

WASHINGTON – The American Gas Association has recognized Baltimore Gas and Electric employee and President of the Baltimore City Resource Parent Association Bill Blevins for his personal and professional contributions to improving the lives of foster children in Baltimore.  

“Bill and Caitie Blevins saw foster children in need of protection and, in the best tradition of our industry, took decisive action to help make some of the most vulnerable kids in Baltimore safer,” said AGA Senior Public Relations Manager Adam Kay. “Workers at natural gas utilities like BGE work day in and day out helping to keep customers and communities safe, and you see an extension of that in the work that Bill and Caitie do to support kids in foster care.  

Blevins, a former gas supervisor at BGE who now works on the electric side, and his wife, Caitie, became foster parents in 2019. Bill and Caitie now have seven children, with two biological sons, two sons adopted through the foster care program, and a fostered baby girl. “We had our two biological children, and unfortunately were unable to have other ones, but fostering is something we’ve always talked about.” said Blevins. “I have a great family and a great extended family, and there are children out there who don’t have that, and it breaks my heart. I believe I have been blessed to bless other people. This is the best way to really make a change.” 

In their first year of fostering, they faced a hard situation when a child they fostered for nine months was removed from their home “in a really traumatic way… That was a turning point for me and my wife. We were either going to stop fostering or look for avenues to get involved and make the process better,” Blevins continued.  

Bill and Caitie became involved with the Baltimore City Resource Parent Association—a group advocating for foster parents in Baltimore—which had been neglected after members dropped out. Going strong now for four years, the association has partnered with other groups to offer support services to parents and children while it focuses on working with the city of Baltimore to find solutions to challenges in the foster system. Bill is most proud of a policy change that now allows foster parents to travel out of state with children in their care for vacations without getting authorization from the city. Foster families in Baltimore have already seen notable benefits from the new policy. 

“Being able to change that policy has had a really big impact for foster parents and foster kids by providing stability for the kids, the biggest indicator of success,” confirmed Blevins. 

BGE employees can volunteer for up to 750 hours, and the company will match these hours with an equal amount in funding for their chosen organization, which has allowed Blevins to drive greater support for his efforts. Blevins also earned BGE’s Powering Community Award in 2022, earning another $5,000 for the association.