Meeting the Needs of Children & Families

Gracie

Gracie was just a kid herself – too young to find herself homeless and trying to take care of an infant of her own.

Only a teenager and growing up in an unsafe and volatile home, CPS placed Gracie in foster care with a couple who welcomed both Gracie and her son into their home. Though Gracie’s biggest concern was for the well-being of her baby, she was also in need of love, care, and support.

Within an hour of Gracie’s arrival at the foster home, a Foster Village team member arrived with a carload of essentials for Gracie and her son. Gracie became a frequent visitor at our resource center and took on an unofficial internship role, helping us assemble welcome packs for other children entering foster care and sharing her valuable input about things that were most and least helpful for kids like her.

As she approached her 18th birthday, Gracie prepared to take on a new challenge: life on her own with her young son. Gracie wanted to give her son a better childhood than she’d had, but she had no role models and no idea where to begin.

But now, Gracie had a village of support. We were able to connect Gracie with a team of volunteers who committed to helping her with consistent child care while she started a new job. She saved up enough money for a deposit on an apartment, and our social workers helped her navigate the complexities of finding affordable housing and other social services. Alongside her foster parents, our team helped Gracie start the process to get her driver’s license and budget for car ownership.

Over the course of a year, Gracie’s story went from “a teen and her baby sleeping in the CPS office” to “a young mom with a job, an apartment, a car, and a village of support to cheer her on.”