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Members of the community host donation drives and gently used items are posted on Foster Village Charlotte Swap for further needs. FVC staff follow up by email within two weeks with each family and also to introduce new families to other support services to stabilize the journey in foster care. Foster Village Charlotte creates connection with dignity for children and families experiencing foster care by meeting urgent needs, providing educational and emotional support, and advocating as a collective community voice for children. Foster Village Charlotte is committed to helping children, foster families, kinship families, and/or biological families by creating a village of support during their time of crisis. Staying emotionally present during the difficult transition into foster care takes lots of energy from all parties involved.
Safety Pin House
Abused and neglected children lingered in bad situations. But Becky Santoro and her team at Foster Village Charlotte, a nonprofit that provides support for foster families, were prepared to act. In just the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region there are currently close to 600 kids in the foster care system. Over six months, they ramped up support groups, hosted meetings with the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, and doubled the number of first-time donors. Seventy percent of our organization is run by individual donations. We’re trying to show that everybody can impact foster care, not just foster parents.
BUILDING CAPACITY TOGETHER
Become a monthly donor and help fuel our mission, every donation helps and everyone can make a difference. Foster and adoptive parents Heather, Peter and Diana all credit their families’ success in part to help from others. The median household income in Charlotte, North Carolina is$67,385.The median household income for the surrounding county is $71,482compared to the national median of $66,222.The median age of people living in Charlotte is37.1 years.
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Project SOOTHe provides non-invasive tools, play-based strategies, and individualized consultations to families free of charge to help caregivers engage and bond with the children in their homes. Forms can be filled out on our website by caregivers and our licensed pediatric Occupational Therapist and current foster parent calls to schedule a consultation. After a consultation, a follow-up email is provided that recaps the visit and suggests play-based strategies for the sensory tools that will be delivered. One of the things that brought us together was our mutual desire to support children in foster care.
Life Lessons: Becky Santoro of Foster Village
Work to grow part-time staff roles into full-time roles, increasing FVC's capacity for program implementation, fund development and operational fidelity. FVC recognizes that capacity-building requires leadership at the helm. We have operated on a small scale team with limited compensation for co-directors so that we could increase the number of staff on our team in the future.
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When Foster Village Charlotte joined Cultivate in 2020, they were an emerging organization that had a groundswell of grassroots support, an ambitious vision and deep passion for local children and families. The FVC team had recently moved into a Center that would serve as a home for their support groups, Welcome Pack storage and space for foster families and biological families to work together to support the children in their care. At Foster Village Charlotte (FVC), the commitment to providing a supportive space for children and foster families goes beyond the ordinary. FVC facilitates connections, offers educational and emotional support, and equips caregivers with essential advocacy tools. My vision has always been for Foster Village to be a safe haven for kids to come back to over and over again, one that’s comfortable and dignifying for their families.
Meeting needs. Bringing dignity to the system.
We also found out that our foster daughter’s biological brother was born and needed a home. But then, during a court meeting, the judge decided that the baby would live with an aunt and uncle. Once we did, I couldn’t unhear or unsee what I had seen and heard. We finished classes and home inspections, then got a phone call saying we could start hearing about kids soon.
Charlotte Families: Biltmore Estate's Annual Pass Sale Is Back
They provide resources such as welcome packs, funded trainings, support groups, and classes to help ensure a healthy transition for children in crisis. This is why we are proud to support Foster Village Charlotte and their mission. Part of their success, Santoro believes, comes from Foster Village’s reliance on its five staff members, all of whom have fostered children themselves. Santoro has four children, ages 10, 8, 6, and 4; she adopted the younger two.
Village Partner Community
My experience in the classroom had a lot to do with why I became a foster parent. I had students who were in foster care, living with extended family or foster parents. Watching grandparents struggle to parent again, or having a conversation with kids and not getting a clear picture of where they were living, or with whom … changed me. Tony and I started gathering information about foster care before we started a family. COVID delivered a blow to an already strained foster care system. Therapy and support service availability dwindled.
Foster the Village gets more space to help foster families - WBAY
Foster the Village gets more space to help foster families.
Posted: Fri, 18 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Even though you are already experiencing toxic stress, being placed somewhere new adds additional levels of trauma. You find yourself without a familiar face, in an unknown setting, without a single belonging. Support during the Resource Development module turned out to be particularly helpful for the organization. “During our time in Cultivate, we launched a peer-to-peer campaign that would leverage this groundswell of support.
Foster Village Charlotte knew where they wanted to go – but they also knew they needed help to build a strong foundation that would make them sustainable for years to come. “When we joined Cultivate, we had a lot of momentum and community support,” said Founder and Executive Director Becky Santoro. We recently hired a licensed clinical social worker. We also launched a “before your first placement” group. At the end of four weeks, new foster parents have an opportunity to partner with a seasoned foster parent mentor to walk them through their first placement.
One hour after that call, we got another call about a child who needed a home. Your support gives vulnerable children and families the village of support they need to thrive. Foster Village bridges this gap between foster families and caregivers and those who want to help, meeting practical needs and providing holistic support beyond the system. As children and caregivers navigate a messy child welfare system, our volunteers help bridge gaps and remind families that they are not alone through the ups and downs of foster care.
I knew I could have a tangible, meaningful, and positive impact through the beauty of my artful designs. When you purchase any items from our House Collection, we donate 100% of the purchase price to Foster Village Charlotte. Your purchase supports the work of Foster Village Charlotte, which ultimately impacts those who need it the most. My hope is the Safety Pin House serves as a reminder that when we all come together, children can have a safe place to call home.
I would have loved for my (foster) children’s father to have access to a home-like setting like our current resource center in the Oakhurst neighborhood. We hope to open a larger resource center so we can provide more intentional programming around the foster and biological family on their road home. When Raeya was 6 months old, we both left teaching. I took a job at Watershed, working in the children’s program. During that time, I said to Tony, “Let’s do foster care.” Looking back, that did not feel like the right time to start something new. Tony was starting his business, I was in a new job, we had little kids.
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