When the Work Comes Together
Many days in the office can feel disjointed. All of us staff work on our own individual tasks, but some days are different. Some days we all hold the pieces to the same puzzle, and we get to step back and look at the finished picture together.
A few weeks ago, a large sibling group was placed at The Landing. Our staff and volunteers spent five days getting to know them, making sure their needs were met, and infusing some joy and light into a scary time. They ate pizza, made play-dough, and sat in the trucks at the firestation down the street. One volunteer found out the oldest brother was a mountain biking fanatic, and spent hours with him at the pump track.
On the morning of their last day at The Landing, their social worker mentioned to us that she still hadn’t secured a foster home for them. The foster care specialists on our team jumped on it. Within a few hours, they had found the best family for the job; an awesome couple with a brand new foster parenting license and enough room for siblings.
Coincidentally, this couple had just attended the Trauma-Informed Care class I had facilitated over the weekend. I offered to chat with them about the kids and answer any questions. When we heard that this foster family was concerned about being able to find childcare (a notoriously difficult problem to solve), a foster care specialist who had started her day working on an entirely different case popped her head up.
“I’m printing their paperwork now. They can start Monday.”
“Oh. Wow, Great! The older boy will need to get into the school district though, how long do you think that will take to set up?”
“Enrolled him 10 minutes ago, the principal gave me his cell number if they need it.”
By the time I'd hung up the phone, the team was hard at work answering questions before they were asked.
Then our Operations Manager popped out of her office after listening to the conversation:
“So this couple is going from no kids to three kids in one day? What do they need? They live in my neighborhood, I’ll bring them a pizza on my way home. And do they know their neighbor is a professional mountain biker? That’s going to be big for the older brother.”
Across town, this group of siblings had eaten pancakes, pet some dogs at the park, ridden their bikes, and watched their favorite parts of Moana. Then they grabbed their bags packed full of some new clothes, care items, and goodies, and rode in the car to a new house.
When they got there, the foster parents knew their names, what they liked to eat, and told them about the great school they would be starting soon. As they started putting their stuff away, a familiar face from The Landing showed up.
And to top it all off, she had a pizza.
Written by Abby Smith, Director of Programs at Skookum Kids
If you’d like to get involved at Skookum Kids, look into volunteering or foster parenting!