Transitional Housing Program, or as we call it, "THP," is a program that was created for youth who age out of foster care. This program allows us to help guide our young adults to a healthy and successful future. The benefits of this program are to help our youth participants establish a safe living environment while learning skills to make them self-sufficient and have a successful adult life while being immersed in a supportive and caring environment. We provide a housing allowance, a social worker who meets with them weekly, job readiness training, budget management, basic life skills, and apartment…

There are endless acronyms in foster care, but the one we are adding to your memory bank today is ISFC.  ISFC stands for Intensive Services Foster Care.  Being an ISFC parent entails caring for children with much higher needs than the average child in foster care.  Children at an ISFC level can have medical issues such as a feeding tube, life-threatening illness, a developmental or mental handicap, or severe trauma and behavioral problems that require many therapy appointments and around-the-clock care. We have many families that have stepped up to this challenging role to meet the needs of supporting children…

Steffanie Sanchez and her four siblings entered foster care when she was just 9 years old.  She had known a life of homelessness and growing up in a household of drug addiction. Coming into foster care, Steffanie and her older brother were put into the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento, which is where they resided for the next two and a half months.  Her two younger siblings were placed very quickly into a foster home and were later adopted. Steffanie’s happily ever after did not come quite as quick.  Steffanie stated that, “What still reigns true today, that it’s hard…

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month! Even though it might seem like it, this is not just a month to highlight foster families. This is a month to tell the world how we can all be a part of something bigger than ourselves. There was a quote that I recently read that says, "It doesn't take a village. It takes a state." Those words could not be more accurate. Not everyone can be a foster parent, but every person can help in a very tangible and meaningful way with the gifts and means they already have. 1. Be a…

This past month Children’s Hope hosted their annual foster parent appreciation dinner. This event was a night full of laughs, limbo, prizes, good food, and even better company.  At this year’s event, we had a community outpour of raffle donations to give to each one of our foster families that attended the appreciation dinner.  We are constantly blown away by the kindness and generosity of our incredible community. This night was so special because, unlike any other night, each person in this room all had one thing in common. The commonality was that each person dedicates a significant part of…

Being a young foster parent comes with its challenges.  One of those challenges has been the fear of fostering teenagers.  I’m not going to say it is a walk in the park, because oftentimes, it’s not.  Teenagers coming into the foster care system can have a much larger exposure to trauma.  They are smart.  They are aware of everything that is going on and everything that has happened to them.  Many have become accustomed to taking care of themselves and most likely their younger siblings as well.  They unfairly had to take on the parenting role even though they have…

Life throughout the pandemic has been a challenge to say the least.  Families all over the country turned their lives upside down to find a way to stay home far more than ever this past year or two.  Parents who normally work full time took on the role of teacher too.  Kids did their best adjusting to Zoom classes a few times a day.  Everyone thought about toilet paper way more than anyone ever should, and 34 million people in the United States got a virus that made it so they could not tell the difference between Ranch dressing and…

We didn’t know it at the time, but September 17, 2019, was the day our lives would be changed forever. On this day, I got a phone call asking if I was willing to take in three little boys.  I normally talk it over with my husband before welcoming in any new members to our household, but this call was different. With this call, I asked a few questions, but I already knew in my heart that my answer at the end of this conversation was going to be “yes.”  No thought crossed my mind that this “yes” was going…

Celebrating the Brynnan family is something that is effortless to do.  This family of five’s story is one that is worth the read. Dawn Brynnan is an incredible woman who was raised by her wonderful grandma who had ten children and 26 grandchildren. It was a home full of love, laughter, and endless fun.  She knew from a young age that this type of home filled with a large family is exactly the future she wanted. When Dawn got married, her spouse had a desire to adopt through foster care because she had spent time in foster care as a child.  They had one biological child and then started foster care, but they…

A majority of the children we have been given the privilege to love and parent have come from generational trauma and foster care.  This means that their parents, grandparents, or other family members have come into the child welfare system at one point or another in their life and sustained a life full of different types of abuse and traumatic events. When I look at the kids in our care, I see bright-eyed, rambunctious toddlers with the world at their feet.  They are full of life, love, and mac and cheese.  But I know that as a resource parent, I…

The first step is the hardest; calling.  My first call to Children’s Hope Foster Family Agency was one of the most exciting, nerve-wracking, and anxiety-filled calls I have ever made, but after three rings, I was put at ease by the kindest person on the other end.  She was thrilled I was calling to inquire about being a resource parent and told me that there was a huge need for people wanting to open their homes to children in foster care.  She took my information down, and I was sent an initial packet of paperwork to complete.  Once we finished…