Congratulations to this week’s KKBN Goodie Award Winners:
Environmental Alternative Foster Parents While nominees are normally individuals, I wish to nominate the foster parents of the Environmental Alternatives Foster Family Agency. This is why I believe they deserve the “Goody” award.
Our foster parents work 24/7 to provide loving and stable environments to children who, through no fault of their own, are unable to live with their families. Whether it is for a few days, a few months, or years, they enable these children to thrive while in their care.
Unfortunately, foster parents as a group are often judged by the tiny minority who make the news because of careless or even criminal behavior. Our agency puts potential foster parents through a rigorous certification process, and our social workers work closely with the families. Children entering these foster homes come from places where stability, patience and the nurturing they deserve are often absent. All the children have some emotional scars. Some have physical damage caused by the very people who should be protecting them. Our foster parents step in and provide the stability, caring and limits that the children so desperately need. They do not try to replace the biological parents these children love, but offer a safe space to the children while their biological parents work on reunification plans. If these plans are not successful, our foster parents often make lifetime commitments to the children through adoption or guardianship, and many continue to provide!
e a home for the older children even after they technically “age out” of the system. We believe our foster parents are amazing people who go above and beyond what is required, and we want to give a huge Thank You to them for all they do for children.