Testimonials
During the 2010 legislative session, EMBRACE was targeted for reductions until a group of foster parents started the 'SEC' – the Save EMBRACE Campaign. Below are a few excerpts of the letters that demonstrate the relationships that the Foster Parent Liaisons have built with their foster parents:
"Over the years, many of us have opened our hearts, our homes, and our families to children that we will always hold so dear. And over these same years, we have seen and felt the first hand frustrations of obtaining documents, finding the correct answers, processing paperwork, and trying to pick up the pieces of some little one's life that just fell apart and make it "all better 24-7". Last year Rockdale County was very fortunate in being able to establish a foster parent liaison through EMBRACE which provided us with a process of empowerment to our foster families that engaged us and our families into our own community."
EJ Dailey, Rockdale County Foster Parent and
Rockdale County Foster Parent Association President
"It is a wonderful feeling to know I can call either one if I have a question. Embrace is a wonderful bridge between DFCS and foster parents and I believe is a necessity. I do not know if I would have continued being a foster parent after my first placement if it was not for Tangi and Katrinka and EMBRACE. With fewer DFCS case workers with larger case loads to handle lately, EMBRACE is a wonderful asset to have. It is a terrible thing to feel like you are going it alone especially if you are a new foster parent."
Cathy and Peter Larson
Cobb County Foster Parents
"…I feel that Embrace’s services are vital to the success and retention of Georgia’s foster families. Embrace provides assistance to foster parents in many different ways, and in many cases their support can even mean the difference between a disruption in a placement for a child or children...The challenges faced by foster parents and foster children are numerous, and Embrace is a perfect fit when it comes to helping foster families overcome these challenges and succeed. Whether it be a family taking temporary care of a child until a positive reunification can be made with biological parents or a family adopting after parental rights have been terminated, the influence foster parents have on Georgia’s children is lasting and crucial to the type of adults these already traumatized and hurting children become. Embrace plays a vital role in making sure these influences are positive through their many efforts to keep training opportunities available, to provide a liaison between families and DFCS, and sometimes to just lend an ear and provide words of encouragement in tough moments."
Jennifer Kelley
Cobb County Foster Parent
"I know that I am not the only one who has benefitted from the programs EMBRACE has brought about. As well I am sure that some of you who are newer and don’t know being a foster parent without EMBRACE, trust me when I tell you it’s better having Amy as our liaison. Imagine on a Saturday afternoon or late night and there is a crisis, there’s no Amy what do you do? Call 911?! I know I joke that the best thing to come out of EMBRACE is the doorbell, but truly the programs as well as Amy have been a great source of support for us, there have been lots of good things to come from EMBRACE, the fun events, training opportunities, help with the daily stuff, mentors, natural helpers, help with checks, what to do about behaviors, the list goes on and on. Seems to me we are finally making progress, as a foster parent you are no longer an island unto yourself, taking this away at this point would be a shame."
Tricia Vines
Cherokee County Foster Parent