Tennessee Fosters Hope

Some children have come into my home as foster placements because a stranger did the right thing and called Child Protective Services. Friends have brought meals in the first two weeks of a new placement while gathering supplies and clothes for us. A daycare teacher doesn’t know her story but loves my child that I didn’t know existed three days ago. The church nursery welcomes my child that we didn’t know we’d have until the middle of the night last night. Our entire community helps vulnerable children that come into foster care for a season. These children are all our children. We all have a duty to care and to help.

I work for Tennessee Kids Belong (TKB) because I’m a foster mom and know we need the support that TKB gives in this region and across our state. I believe in our macro level of support across government, business, faith and creative sectors to end the crisis in foster care for Tennessee. Defending and advocating for the children in foster care in our neighborhoods, cities and towns is my passion.

Foster care has grown our family and our hearts. We can be a safe place for children coming into care while their parents get better and we can say goodbye. Yes, it’s hard but we can do hard things. You’ve done hard things before too. Our biological and recently adopted children are brave and compassionate, even more so as a foster family. We recently renewed our license for the 4th year and I feel like I’ve run 267 marathons and ridden 2 million roller coasters. Foster care can be isolating and lonely. It’s incredibly rewarding and life changing too. We have our two sons in our forever family because of foster care. Thank God we were brave and said one little yes to go to an informational class, and then the next yes to take classes. We just keep saying the next yes as we need to and here we are with a full life and full hearts.

The Governor has launched a foster and adoptive campaign to get everyone involved and you can find a way to connect at TN FOSTERS HOPE! Tennessee Fosters Hope is a statewide collaborative campaign engaging state agencies, community organizations, the business community, and Houses of Worship to elevate high quality care and opportunities for children and families impacted by foster care and adoption. Everyone can do something no matter your age. We need you to say a simple yes and lend a helping hand. There’s children in foster care and foster families that need your skills and gifts so they can keep going.