The Prestridge Family has started their foster care journey about 8 years ago and they have fostered about 100 children! Read their story here.
It's June and we're celebrating #ReunificationMonth and Amber is one of our local parents who is a true success story! With the help of relationships and local providers, Amber has overcome many challenges including addiction and tragic loss. This month Amber was reunified with her children and shares her story to encourage other families that with love and support they can also overcome! Take a moment to listen to her story.
Rachel and Sean have been major supporters of uniting sibling groups and co-parenting with the biological families of their kids. Read more about their story.
Meet the Haller Family! One of our foster families who are always willing to take in sibling groups and teens – our greatest need! Read more about their story.
Meet the Sims Family! For over 13 years, Violet and Ronald have opened their heart and home to youth in their community and have even adopted 6 of their children. The Sims do an excellent job being a support to the children in their care and their families. Their partnership with the children's parents and families have led to successful reunifications and they still stay in touch and visit to this day.
Ashley & Kelly began their foster care journey back in 2017. Ashley shares, “We had 3 young biological children at home when we started our foster care journey. Kel and I had lots of conversations about how fostering would affect our family - we worried about how it might change our children. Be assured, foster care will change you. You cannot experience the things of foster care and stay the same. We have all become more compassionate and empathetic individuals.”
Meet the Hargroves, our Foster Family of the Month!
In 2018, Maria & Daniel began their foster care journey and decided that they only wanted to foster teens (our greatest need)! Since the beginning, they have been very involved in co-parenting, facilitating visits with bioparents and making sure the teens are able to stay connected with family. They champion and advocate for every teen that comes through their home, including the 15 and 16 year olds that are currently with them.
As a foster/adoptive parent, Amanda Cruce has welcomed more than 50 children from Florida’s foster care system into her home. Most have been teenagers. She learned early on that loving foster children as your own kids and then seeing them return to their biological family is a complicated experience, but that’s the goal of fostering.
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! This week we are highlighting just a few of our 250 amazing foster families. Meet Megan & Alex Delfino!
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! We have an amazing network of 250 foster families in Polk, Hardee, and Highlands counties and we are excited to highlight how they make a difference in the lives of our children & families every day!
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! This week we are highlighting just a few of our 250 amazing foster families. Meet Kassandra & James Fields!
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! This week we are highlighting just a few of our 250 amazing foster families. Meet Lauren and Winston Hackett.
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! This week we are highlighting just a few of our 250 amazing foster families. Meet Corey and Kyla Rogala.
It's Foster Family Appreciation Week! This week we are highlighting just a few of our 250 amazing foster families. Meet Dustin and Beth Ann Prickett.
What started as 3 families that were interested in becoming foster caregivers from Lakeland's Harvest Church has now developed into a ministry that meets the immediate needs of children being removed from their homes for abuse and neglect on a weekly basis. We love to see our community partners, like ECHO (Everyday Christians Helping Orphans) Ministries Florida, being highlighted for the amazing service they provide to our children and families! Thank you, ECHO for being a part of our community that cares!
Meet the Stanton Family! Check out their story on how our community has made a difference in their family through the Rudolph Round-Up Toy Drive!
Lori Wasson was licensed on October 18, 2011 for one child, but when she was asked if she could take two in order to keep sisters together, she quickly agreed.
"It’s not just about helping the children, the children impact our lives as well. My family is multi-cultured..."
When Larry and Brenda Wenning decided to become foster parents in 2007, they intended on being licensed for teens and were willing to help with up to five youth. Since their own children had grown up and moved away, they wanted their four bedroom house filled again.
Toni and Mike Bauer are an example of going the extra mile for a child. When a four-month-old was placed in their home they immediately began working with the biological father who had almost completed his case plan.
Best friends Maggie Wojtylak and Deanna Johnson have been co-parenting and mentoring biological parents since their home was licensed March 25, 2008. Currently, they are serving as mentors to a birth mother of a child placed in their home and have been supervising visits with her for almost a year.
The Lecza family had a child placed in their home on a Monday morning in February of 2012. That same evening, the child experienced an accident and broke his femur...
Theresa Mixon has been fostering since 1998 and is currently fostering two children. She has a 17 year old male that has been residing in her home for two years. Ms. Mixon believes in ensuring the children are actively involved in community activities and athletics...
HFC's commitment to building community partnerships has helped improve and provide quality services for the children and families in our community. The staff works with our school liaisons to ensure that our families receive the support that they need to care for our children.
Teresa Hall - Hardee County Schools