foster care is expensive

This wasn't her first time in the ER, and honestly, it likely won't be her last. A youth in our programs has been through a hurricane of hardship in her short life and regularly experiences debilitating panic attacks.

This is what it looks like:
💔 Her breathing stops.
💔 Her heart races.
💔 Muscle tension renders her unable to walk.

Before, the plan was immediate care at the emergency room, where an IV of muscle relaxants would be administered. 

Then, transport to inpatient psychiatric treatment for up to two weeks at a time. This is up to 8-hours round trip with facilities as far away as Yakima.  

After a few rounds of going through this alongside a kid, you start to realize that this is not only heartbreaking - it's also very common and very expensive.
💰It's expensive for the child who is missing more school. 
💰Expensive for our small-town hospitals with limited ER beds. 
💰Expensive for the social worker who has to find a new foster family if this one decides it’s all too much. 
💰Expensive for the foster parent who is expected to pick up the child when it’s all over. (The hospital will transport the child to the facility, but there is no one to help transport the child home when it’s all over.) ​

And even more than expensive, it’s not effective. The next time an episode comes on, the whole cycle repeats itself.

It’s also not what children need to get better. 

Our children need safe, consistent, regulated and attuned adults. Kids in care need a known and loving person beside them to help them hold their worries - to calm their breathing, and find solid ground again. 

How can it be that something so simple, and so cheap, can be so effective? 

Over the last few months, an incredible team of volunteers has built trust and come up with an action plan for that teen ^ when crisis occurs. 

That night, they took turns being with her- both at the ER and later back at home. Together, they called her pastor, a trusted adult in her life to be with her on the phone. They sat beside her until she was stable enough to be released into their care and back home to sleep in her own bed. 

The next day, she was in school. 

You don’t have to even like kids to see the return on investment a volunteer can make. 

It saves society tens of thousands of dollars every time an incident comes up for a child in foster care. The ripple effects of this kind of invaluable connection for kids can result in cycles broken - your support can bring stability and hope for the future.