Foster the Family

✨MEET THE TEAM✨ We are thrilled to have Heather Win join our team as our new Grand Rapids Director! Get to know her: "I’m Heather Win, and I am excited to be the new Grand Rapids Branch Director. With over 12 years in foster and adoption ministries through the local church, I’m passionate about supporting foster families and collaborating with existing resources. I believe every child deserves a stable, loving environment, and foster families are essential in this process. My goal is to help families thrive, not just survive, by addressing burnout and creating supportive solutions. My lived experience has shown me the challenges and transformative moments that come with proper support. I am coming to this role with many years of non-profit experience, most recently as Executive Director of a West Michigan nonprofit. I cannot wait to connect with your family and offer my support!" We are so glad to have you join the team, Heather! 🥳 #FosterTheFamily #ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage

Meet Barry! Our New Jersey Director! Barry is a foster parent and adoptive dad of 3 children who deeply cares about foster care support because he believes every child deserves stability, love, and a nurturing environment to thrive. He also believes that creating a strong support network providing ongoing encouragement is crucial to helping foster parents feel empowered and connected. Barry owned and operated a small martial arts school in Haddonfield, NJ, where he developed strong leadership and business management skills while fostering a passion for teaching and community engagement. He served as a full-time pastor, before returning to his family’s martial arts business at Garaguso Karate in Williamstown, NJ. We are so excited for Barry to join our team! Join us in welcoming him to the FTF family! #FosterTheFamily #FosterTheFamilyUS ##ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage #EveryoneCanDoSomething

Will you join the Foster the Family team today as we celebrate our President and Founder, Jamie Finn @fosterthefamilyblog, for the release of her second book, Filled: 60 Devotions for the Foster Parent's Heart?! 🥳💛😍 We know that for so many of you, Jamie's first book made a huge impact in your life! We've heard the testimonies of how you felt seen, heard, encouraged, and even how you felt like you were sitting and having a good cup of coffee and a really good cry with your best friend! We feel confident that her newest book will do just the same! Today is its debut into the world, and you can officially purchase it wherever you buy your books! Jamie, what a gift you are in this space! Your vision and leadership have been the backbone that brought us where we are today-- and today, we celebrate YOU! Want to hear more from Jamie? Follow her on socials and make plans to attend one of her 6 remaining stops for her Filled Book Tour! And don't forget to grab a copy of Filled TODAY! #FosterTheFamily #FosterTheFamilyUS

September is National Kinship Care Month! Kinship Care is when a child is placed with a family member or fictive kin family member. This can look like children being placed with family members like aunts, uncles, older siblings, grandparents, cousins, or fictive kin members like teachers, coaches, a best friend's parent, or youth pastors! Kinship Care is often the preferred option, as it allows children to maintain family and cultural connections and can help alleviate fear when a move has to be made. When a kinship placement isn't an option, children are moved into a foster home. We see, honor, and cherish all of our kinship caregivers in this space. ❤️ #FosterTheFamily #KinshipCare #NationalKinshipCareMonth #Family

THIS is foster care.

Are you tired? Frustrated? Tapped out? 😫 Do you feel overwhelmed by this season? Do you find yourself struggling to just get out of bed in the morning and face the day? Do the behaviors in your home feel too much, or maybe too big, to work through? You’re not alone. Our September training, in partnership with Chosen, is just what we all need! We will be getting down to the nitty-gritty through Chosen’s curriculum, Parenting with the Brain in Mind, to share how trauma affects development, which can often translate into big, and sometimes scary, behaviors! We will also learn how parenting kids with trauma affects our own nervous systems as we can experience a shift into self-protection mode, which diminishes the joy and compassion of parenting, leading our bodies into Blocked Care. This is a training you don’t want to miss– one that we are confident that you will learn so much from! Register today! https://lnkd.in/gHrgbyX7 #ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage #EveryoneCanDoSomething

HEY FRIENDS! We’ve got EXCITING news to share! We are thrilled to announce that Foster the Family is partnering with Chosen to bring a FREE, trauma-informed virtual training to families across the country! Chosen’s educator, Bethany Hall, will walk us through their carefully curated curriculum, Parenting with the Brain in Mind, where we will discuss the impact trauma has on development, how our own nervous systems struggle as we work through Blocked Care, and practical ways to support not only our children, but also ourselves! We understand the ups, the downs, and the crazy in-betweens that foster and adoptive families face. We’ve walked in your shoes— felt our hearts both burst and break between the unexpected joys and the grievous goodbyes while navigating the challenges that push their way into our homes. That’s why we are here to support you through every step, and in every season, and are so confident that this training will speak wisdom, encouragement, and hope into your life! Join us on September 14 from 3-8pm EST from the comfort of your own home or join a branch near you for a simulcast (with dinner and community!) here: https://lnkd.in/gHrgbyX7 #ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage #EveryoneCanDoSomething

What's our Mission? Our mission is to support and encourage foster and adoptive families,
mobilize and equip the community and church for foster care and adoption, and advocate for vulnerable children. What's our Why? 391,000 Children in Foster Care and only 208,823 Foster Homes. These are the numbers of a national foster care crisis. Of the families who will say “yes” to opening their homes to vulnerable children, about 50% will end up closing their doors within the first year. Want to Help? Check out our website and all the ways you can get involved today: https://lnkd.in/dWwCfGq2

We are so thankful for our community partners! Our Baltimore Branch connected with Drybar in 2022. Since then, they have hosted multiple Hair Care Tutorial Nights for our families. This is such an encouraging way for multicultural families to learn how to both properly AND confidently care for children's hair! What a gift it is to watch our foster and adoptive parents blossom as they learn from the talented and caring staff at Drybar! Thanks for joining our village, Drybar. #FosterTheFamily #FosterTheFamilyUS #FosterTheFamilyNJ #FosterTheFamilyDC #FosterTheFamilyBaltimore #FosterTheFamilyGrandRapids #FosterTheFamilyFlorida #ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage #EveryoneCanDoSomething

Our team is growing! ☀ And we'd love to introduce you to one of our newest team members, Annie Roof! Annie will be serving with us as a Support Group Supervisor! She's been a FTF Support Group Leader since we launched our groups all those years ago! Learn a little about Annie: Annie has been passionate about serving children and families through foster care since she was a child. Growing up, her parents were foster parents, so her early experiences shaped her commitment to providing encouragement and support to foster families. She pursued a degree in Human Development and Family Science and became a Foster Home Coordinator for Delaware. After transitioning away from that position to be a stay-at-home mom, Annie and her husband, Blake, became foster parents in 2008. They now live in Maryland and have five children: three by birth, one adopted through foster care, and one currently in foster care. Join us in (officially) welcoming Annie to the FTF family! #FosterTheFamily #FosterTheFamilyUS #FosterTheFamilyNJ #FosterTheFamilyDC #FosterTheFamilyBaltimore #FosterTheFamilyGrandRapids #FosterTheFamilyFlorida #ThisIsFosterCare #FosterCare #ThisIsAdoption #Adoption #FosterCareSupport #FosterFamily #BeTheVillage #EveryoneCanDoSomething