This is what our work looks like.

Dear Friends,

I hope you are having a joyous and restful holiday season and end of 2022 because I know this time of year can be chaotic for everyone. Yet, I do not think many people realize just how hard and tumultuous it is for foster children and families with CPS involvement. The children we work with have experienced trauma and struggle with emotional regulation on the best of days. Over the holiday season, they often experience intense difficulty. While many offices slow down and courts close during this time, our work at FCAC often escalates.?

Last week, one of our clients, who recently aged out of foster care, found herself without anywhere to stay as the winter freeze rolled in. She was sleeping in a graveyard because all of the shelters were full. Every FCAC staff member worked together to ensure this young adult had a warm and safe place to stay. This is what our work looks like.

A different youth was able to find a safe, stable place to live and a job after escaping a long history of sexual exploitation. But she did not have any toiletries or clothes. I took her shopping to let her pick out some things she wanted in her new life. This is what our work looks like.?

Parents desperate to have their children out of foster care and home for the holidays call us looking for solace and hope. We help them get holiday visits and prepare motions for their children to return home in the new year. This is what our work looks like.?

Children who have truly gone through the unimaginable get to spend Christmas for the first time this year with parents who love and protect them. I fought for several months to get them into this placement, where they flourished. This is also what our work looks like.

Siblings who were separated by the most harrowing circumstances get to spend this Christmas together for the first time in many, many years. Bringing the siblings back together has been a considerable focus of my work over the past year.?

For a child who does not have any family members in her life, I made a day trip to visit her in her new placement at a treatment center in New Braunfels, Texas. The day was exhausting, and I was trying to beat the freeze. I was able to hand-deliver gifts and show this child that there is an adult in her life that cares about her. This is what our work looks like.?

In the New Year, as we are trying to track down where our clients are placed after many of them will inevitably be moved when their big feelings and behavioral outbursts break down placements, our work will involve going to dozens of Transfer ARD (IEP) Meetings to make sure they get all of their special education services at their new schools.?

FCAC is an incredibly lean organization with very little overhead. When you donate to us, your gift goes directly to helping us do this work. You join us in making sure foster children are safe and stable, that they have all of their needs met, and that they are able to have the joy and happiness they deserve.?

Last year, we served over 275 clients, and we are hoping to expand even more in 2023. There is so much work to do, and we need your support to be able to do it. Please join us in creating a more just foster system.

With gratitude,

Tara Grigg Green // Executive Director // Co-Founder // Foster Care Advocacy Center