Foster Kent Kids comprises staff from WMPC, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), and staff from the five private foster care agencies in Kent County: Bethany Christian Services, Catholic Charities West Michigan, D.A. Blodgett-St. John’s, Samaritas, and Wellspring Lutheran Services.
Our goal is to recruit foster parents within Kent County and walk alongside and support our current foster parents. We could not do this work without our foster parents!
There are many ways individuals and families can get involved and support children in foster care.
We need caring homes for all children who have been removed from their families due to abuse or neglect. Foster parents are crucial supports to children who are in crisis, and they can instill hope and a sense of belonging. Our greatest need is foster parents who will care for teenagers, sibling groups, and medically fragile youth.
If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, we can refer you to one of our partner agencies who will assist you with training and licensing each step of the way!
Some of the steps are:
You can call Foster Care Navigators at 855-MICHKIDS. Navigators are experienced foster care parents who can answer your questions, help you find an agency to foster with, and provide you with guidance along your journey to becoming a foster parent.
No worries! There are many ways you can support children in foster care without being a parent. You can be an advocate, mentor, respite caregiver, or support foster families in your neighborhood with daily tasks.
This resource guide covers:
• Foster Parent Trainings
• Diversity Equity and Inclusion
• Items needed for your first placement
• Kent County Resources for NEW foster parents
• Staple Skin and Hair products for trans-racial placements
If you have a heart for children in care, but foster parenting isn’t possible for you, you can fight for the rights and well-being of the 400,000+ in the U.S. foster care system simply by raising awareness of the state of the foster care system.
First learn about where the system falls short. Talk to foster parents, read the stories of former foster children, listen when you hear about foster care on the news, and reach out to your local agencies. Then, use your voice to educate others about what you’ve learned. The children who suffer because of our collective negligence are voiceless. They need us to speak for them.
Follow WMPC and Foster Kent Kids on Facebook to keep up to date with stories, information, and news from local agencies.
A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a volunteer who is authorized by the court to speak on the behalf of a child in foster care. A CASA spends time with the child, gets to know him, and speaks with everyone in the child’s life, including foster parents, birth parents, relatives, teachers, social workers, attorneys, and medical professionals. They then take what they have learned to the judge and make recommendations in the best interests of the child.
CASAs can be a source of stability and hope in the life of child and many volunteers find the experience to be rewarding. Find out more at https://casakentco.org/.
The opportunities to volunteer with kids in foster care are endless. You could become a mentor by taking a vested interest in the life of a child in care that you know personally or you could sign up through local programs to volunteer or become a mentor here in Kent County:
D.A. Blodgett – St. John’s Mentoring Program
A Respite Parent provides periodic weekend or short-term care to foster youth being served full time by another foster family. Do you know a foster family in your community that could use a break? Consider asking if they have a respite caregiver. Or contact any of the five foster care agencies for how to become this resource.
Requirements include:
Foster families need all the support they can get. Foster parenting is much more than loving on the kids (that’s the easy part). Often, it is the day-to-day hardships and complexities of working with a team of people within a government entity that is the biggest challenge.
Family visits, doctor appointments, school meetings, counseling, trainings, caseworker visits, emails, phone calls, reports, logs, and endless stacks of paperwork keep foster parents on their toes. A community supporting a foster family can lessen the burden. Offer to do a particular task that you could do weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly:
Committing to helping a foster family for even an hour a week can be the difference in a parent barely hanging on and finding the balance they need to be their best selves for their family.
Ensuring that all children in Kent County receive the best care and support possible takes a lot of collaboration and care from many professionals. Every donation helps create better futures for children.
WMPC is the first performance-based foster care service delivery model in Michigan with the goal of improving outcomes for children.
