Changing the way Foster Care is Experienced

It was early Friday morning - the girls still bleary-eyed in bed when the social worker told them "get your toothbrush, pack your things - you've got to go now..."

...they were being moved again. It was the girls’ eighth move since they’d entered foster care. But this time - because of their Love Box - it was different.

This time, instead of calling the police to remove them, they called the Love Box Leader.

This time, instead of the girls going into another foster placement, another stranger’s home, or spending the night in a hotel or group home, the girls went with their Love Box Leader - back to her house.

Back to their own bunk bed.

This is one of our favorite stories from our programs. To us, this is evidence that Love Box can change the experience of foster care one child at a time.

These sisters have been matched in our Love Box program since the summer of 2020. Everywhere they have been moved, Love Box volunteers have followed.

Among the group of volunteers, the girls have a special connection with one woman who is a steadfast and deeply committed mentor.

When the children were reunited with their biological family who lived two hours away, the Love Box made a plan to stay connected to the children. The Love Box leader got bunk beds so the kids could have the consistency of weekends with her. This also gave their single parent who had never parented much-needed support and regular breaks.

When, DCYF (the Department of Children, Youth, and Families) made the decision to abruptly remove the girls from this placement, they called the Love Box Leader.

She was able to keep them for the weekend and into the week while DCYF made a plan for where they could go next. She took off work, kept them stay on track with their school work, and helped them understand what was happening.

The Love Box Leader helped lighten a very traumatic event - suddenly losing their parent who they had hoped to never have to leave again.
Changing schools - again.
Moving to a new town - again.
Their whole world changing - again.
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The Love Box was key in softening this new trauma and helping the girls transition to their next home:

• Volunteers physically moved their belongings
• Helped transport them back to the Olympic Peninsula
• Took them shopping for back-to-school clothes
• Support their new caregiver
• And added new members to the Love Box, including two former staff from the children's elementary school

This Love Box group continues to see the girls weekly, and they are helping the sisters keep a photobook to make sense of all these moves and twists of foster care.