10 Key Elements Driving Foster Village Charlotte's Mission
By Becky Santoro, Foster Village Charlotte and Chrystal Smith, Foster Village Inc.
As this caring community looks for places to invest their time and resources, we know how essential it is to understand the ins and outs of our mission and vision at Foster Village Charlotte.
We’d love for you to visit our resource centers to get to know us and see our mission in action. We also know that sometimes folks like to learn more before connecting in person. So, alongside Foster Village Inc., we’ve compiled a top ten list highlighting how Foster Village Charlotte stands out as an organization supporting caregivers impacted by the foster care system.
We hope you’ll catch a glimpse of our approach, mission, and heart for coming alongside children and families experiencing foster care. Perhaps the most unique gift of Foster Village Charlotte is in our name itself: we have an incredible village. The people in this mission bring heart and hope to what happens daily. This village invests time, talent, and treasure to ensure that children and families experiencing foster care never walk the road alone. And when a caring community beyond the system steps up to wrap around our vulnerable neighbors, we can bridge many gaps together.
1. Lived Experience
The majority of our staff and board of directors have lived experience. Over 60% have spent time as licensed foster parents, some are former foster youth, and all have some personal story of professional or mission-fueled connection to our mission. We are committed to learning from and being led by folks who understand the ins and outs at a deep level and elevate these voices.
2. Community Led
Our mission is run by the community, for the community. We bring compassionate neighbors, businesses, churches, and other partner organizations to sustain those caring for children intersecting with the child welfare system. We do not rely on state funding for our services, allowing us to meet the needs that the system cannot quickly and efficiently.
Our programs are designed to complement existing efforts that are not always accessible to everyone who needs help. There are many cracks in the overburdened child welfare system, and we believe the community is best positioned to bridge those gaps. Because of this, our volunteers and donors from far and wide can easily support local children and families directly and efficiently.
3. Whole-Family Support
We support the whole family, from placement to permanency. This includes the foster, kinship, and birth family when appropriate. At Foster Village Charlotte, we believe that those caring for children 24/7 are the ones best positioned to ensure vulnerable children have their needs met. And these caregivers need support as well. By wrapping around the entire family, we eliminate the risk factors of isolation. Caregivers are sustained, and children have the connection and care they need from those closest to them.
4. Breaking Generational Cycles of Adversity
Our vision is to break generational cycles of adversity and see families restored. We have the audacious hope that foster care will no longer be needed someday. While foster care is currently a necessary and often beautiful example of caring for children, there is always trauma with family separation. Anecdotally, we have found that many children in the foster care system have biological parents who spent time in the foster care system. What could be different if we focused our energy on providing healthy, safe relationships with foster and kinship parents during their time in foster care? Foster Village Charlotte’s theory of change is that strengthening the systems around children experiencing foster care leads to a resilient next generation that breaks the cycle of adversity.
5. Home-like Resource Centers
Our home-like resource centers serve as a ‘home base’ of connection for those intersecting with child welfare and those wanting to help. Our resource center (White House with the Teal Door) is stocked with tangible brand-new necessities for children entering foster care and is available free of charge to those caring for them. We share with the kids and families that the community provides everything and that they are surrounded by a village of folks who want to ensure they have everything they need to make the foster care experience more dignified. It also serves as a hub for support groups and access to professionals with expertise in trauma and therapeutic services.
Our Connection Cottage next door (named for its cobblestone walls) has a Play Studio with wall-to-wall sensory-rich opportunities to play and connect with loved ones during family visitations. It also has a full-functioning kitchen so families can make meals together and serve as a safe place for children to play with volunteers. At the same time, foster and kinship caregivers are next door during support groups and one-on-one support.
Both resource centers were the first of their kind, set up by child development professionals who have a deep understanding of everything that should be considered for a healing space designed for children who have experienced abuse and neglect.
6. Fast Response Time
Foster care can be a stressful waiting game for caregivers while navigating the urgency of meeting the immediate needs of children placed in their homes. Our team of staff and volunteers know the importance of responding to requests quickly, especially since the families we serve welcome kiddos at a moment’s notice. Sadly, when children are removed from an unsafe situation, there is often no time to gather their belongings. We respond to and fill Welcome Pack requests for tangible items within 24-48 hours of connecting with the caregiver. This helps the emergency placement process feel a little less chaotic for caregivers and children.
By removing one stressor (the mad dash to gather essentials), caregivers can be present for children transitioning into foster and kinship homes. Even with this value of a prompt response, we remain relational and start building connections with families right from the start.
7. Customized Welcome Packs
Foster Village Charlotte’s Welcome Packs equip families with hand-picked and customized essentials for each child. We ensure clothing, toiletries, toys, and books fit each child’s unique needs and interests as we honor each individual's inherent dignity and worth.
We also offer convenient doorstep delivery to families within 20 miles of our resource centers area, thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers. An average Welcome Pack includes over $500 worth of essential care items for a child just placed in a new home.
8. Trauma Reduction
Each of our programs is created with Trauma Reduction in mind. When it comes to foster care, there is always trauma, and children who have experienced abuse or neglect (no matter what age) have heavy burdens and scars to process and carry for years to come. Unfortunately, in reasonable faith efforts to prioritize physical safety, the foster care system often adds additional trauma for these children.
Many former foster youth cite their time spent in foster care as the most traumatic experience of their adverse childhood experiences. At Foster Village Charlotte, we are committed to reducing trauma wherever possible. Some ways include:
home-like resource centers reduce the trauma often felt in the sterile institutional setting of DSS offices and police stations.
monthly workshops and closed support groups equip caregivers with tools and training on how to parent children experiencing foster care.
the Project Soothe program provides sensory tools and guidance to help little bodies process big feelings.
Play-focused spaces, activities, and approaches allow kids to be kids as they learn and grow in the ways that best fit who they are.
staff, board of directors, and volunteers are trained in trauma-informed care, and every time we provide childcare at our events, we make sure that there is at least one trained adult for every two children.
9. Partnering with Parents
Partners in Permanency, our program is dedicated to supporting reunification through tangible support for birth families while educating foster parents on the familiar cycles that impact foster care so they can deepen empathy as a parent partner. A future element of this program includes mentorship in reunification support for foster parents and reunifying family grants that can help bridge gaps for reunifying families who often face barriers that can be overcome with community support.
10. Increased Support during Times of Transition
Our programs are designed to support families throughout their experience as foster and kinship parents. That said, we have found that caregivers often need more individual support during transition times. This could be when a child is first placed in their home, after a difficult diagnosis or change in behaviors, when they say goodbye to a child reunifying, or when they are asked to consider adoption. When that happens, our Director of Programs, Hannah Rice, LCSW, provides individual therapy services to process these transitions. Holding space for grief and loss is central to the work.
