The only thing in life that is constant is change. Words we all have to live by at some point. Some of you may have noticed these past few months that things are a little bit different and that Divine Nest has made some changes.
Over this past year we've been asking ourselves what programs were working
well, why were they working well, and what programs did we need to move away from because they were not being as effective as we had hoped. We realized that the answers were different for families depending on where they lived, in Lincoln or St. Charles County. To simply put it, we started doing things differently to better focus on what families needed in each county.
Here is a summary of how Divine Nest has operated this year.
As Associate Director I have been leading Lincoln and Pike County. I focused on three main areas. First, recruit new families to provide homes for foster children who were in the state’s custody. Second, help train families who were starting their foster care journey, families pursuing adoption, and provide trauma training to help families build caregiving skills. Lastly, I focused on family support.
There were several key areas:
1) Direct support of children in foster care through our Sparrow House.
2) Support children through our First Night Bag program and provide emergency items to help keep siblings together, as well as provide families what they needed to best care for the kids placed in their home.
3) Create a support group that met on a regular basis to help families connect and build their caregiver skills.
Connection is important so I constantly evaluate which programs will be utilized in Lincoln and Pike Counties to best help families connect. I also evaluate our programs to ensure we are best utilizing our resources so that we're having the greatest impact on kids and avoid overlap of things that other agencies are already providing.
Saint Charles County has been led by Executive Director, Dani James. Dani has focused on creating a support group that meets on a regular basis to help families connect and build their caregiver skills. Dani's also focused on supporting families through our First Night Bag program and providing emergency items to help keep siblings together, and provide families what they need to best care for the kids placed in their home. Looking forward, Divine Nest is evaluating which programs will be utilized in Saint Charles County, as well as expanding Sparrow House into St. Charles County to help support kids coming into foster care while they await placement.
If you would like to learn more about what Divine Nest is doing please send us a message.
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