A Caring Place

A Caring Place is a safe, nurturing, respite care center with trained, highly  skilled teachers, where foster parents can take their foster children to play and learn social skills while they take a break.  The program is a partnership with the Junior League of Eugene (providing funding for teachers, snack food, and trained volunteers), Relief Nursery (providing specially trained teachers), the Department of Human Services (providing the clientele), and the First Congregational Church (providing the space).  A Caring Place serves foster children from age 6 weeks to 5 years old in three, 3-hour sessions each week.  Each session has the capacity to serve 11 children from the Eugene – Springfield area (33 children per week), and there is a waiting list of approximately 40 children.

A Caring Place opened in 2004 and has seen significant growth since this time.  A state caseworker, Florence Blas, identified the gap between the community need for a specialized program for foster children and what the state system was able to provide.  She approached the Junior League of Eugene and other members of the collaboration in an effort to bridge this gap.  A national study has shown that 50% of preschoolers in foster care have significant behavioral and developmental needs, and only about 20% of them are receiving services.  A Caring Place not only helps the children with these problems, it also provides the foster parents with a network that will enable them to seek out the care their children require to thrive.  A Caring Place is a unique, non-duplicative program in this community. No other organizations, public or private, provide the same services that it does.

A Caring Place TESTIMONIAL:
A typical day in for one foster mom named Julie (changed name for confidentiality):
Julie is out grocery shopping with her three foster children all under the age of three (Justin, Stevie, and Joey), the youngest being one year but developmentally the age of a six month old.  Her oldest has severe delays and all wear medical alert bracelets for various life threatening conditions. She receives a call from DHS for an emergency placement for a six month old, so on the way home from the grocery store she picks up her fourth foster child (Jason).

A different foster mom calls in the morning saying that her children are sick today and won’t be coming to ACP, so Julie can leave three of her children with us, while she drives across town for Jason’s speech therapy.  She arrives at A Caring Place at 9:00 a.m. with all four children, luckily our volunteer meets her in the parking lot and helps her inside the building.

While she is gone, Justin paints and plays playdough and explores the cornmeal and trucks in the sensory table.  Stevie is just learning how to stretch his arms out and scoot backwards across the floor while the volunteer talks to him and shows him various toys along with another infant at ACP,  while Joey is rocked and given a bottle. Julie returns at 11:00 with Jason and drops him off so she can get a brief 45 minute break and have all four boys at A Caring Place. Jason is excited to have snack and tries grabbing off of his brother’s napkin.  He stands and is redirected back to the table at least ten times during meal time. He is full of energy and wants what everyone else has.  He busily explores all over the room. He loves the house corner and busily empties all the cupboards, and then decides to paint and moves quickly from one activity to another smiling and babbling the entire time.  Now it is time for Stevie’s bottle, and the volunteer helps feed him, while the teachers busily change all seven diapers in the classroom. During class a therapist from a Child Center comes to observe one of our children at A Caring Place, who has just been placed in a new foster home because of his behavior which is a result of the severe abuse he experienced in his past, and he just turned three in October. All the children are given musical instruments and we have circle time singing names songs and other songs the children choose.  Everyone is engaged, infants are sitting in volunteers laps and have shakers too.

Julie comes back and smiles and says, “I feel so refreshed thank you so much, it felt so good to get a snack a just sit in my car and do nothing but relax.  I am so rejuvenated now.”

She bundles up all four children and the stroller with help from a volunteer gets everyone loaded up in the van on to their next adventure of Stevie’s visit at DHS in Springfield at 2:00. Needless to say Julie hardly ever gets a break.  She has taken on four children with special needs which requires around-the-clock attention and loving care. She returns home around 4:30 and has news that her mother who has been ill for about a year needs to be placed in hospice and is now dying.  She has been caring for all these children and her mother and father too, along with the assistance of her sister.

If you are ever at A Caring Place and have a chance to meet Julie, you will be truly amazed how much love this foster mom has for the children in her care and how amazing she is.

I hope this gives you an idea of what A Caring Place is like.  We are usually very busy accommodating the needs of all ages and developmental levels of different children. Life is never dull at A Caring Place and we appreciate the support of Junior League and all of the members.  As you can see it is a much needed service for these foster parents who are so very busy and taking care of fragile children. Thank you so much for our wonderful snacks, the children are loving snack time.  If you have any questions or would like to volunteer at A Caring Place please contact Volunteer Coordinator, Whitney Duvall at whitneysduvall@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Jen Doerr
Director/Teacher of A Caring Place