Join Wellroot and child welfare agencies across the country to honor and recognize the critical role foster families play in supporting children and youth in foster care.

This year’s theme, “Strengthening Minds. Uplifting Families.” is particularly meaningful to me, a strong advocate for trauma-sensitive mental health care, as it highlights the need to take a holistic approach to supporting the mental health needs of children in foster care and those that support them.

We recently spoke with one of our beautiful foster parents, Meredith Barclay, to get her perspective on foster care and mental health. The Barclay family joined Wellroot in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic when we were all experiencing the emotional trauma of having our world turned upside down. Since becoming a foster family, Meredith and her husband, Albert, have supported three children and celebrated two reunifications!

With their most recent placement, the entire Barclay family had the opportunity to participate in Wellroot’s Functional Family Therapy (FFT).

“Even if it is the right thing to do, removing a child from his or her family is disruptive and traumatic. Fostering has brought to our family a greater awareness of what children experience. That trauma, and the resulting behavior, is like another family member that you must learn to live with,” said Meredith Barclay.

Your support and gifts help us to recruit loving families like the Barclay family and provide critical mental health support to the children and youth in our programs.

In addition to investing in Wellroot, we ask that you visit our Foster Care Awareness Tool Kit to help us spread the word about the need for more foster care families, learn how to incorporate conversations about mental health into everyday case planning, and see how a holistic approach to mental health care can support permanency and help youth leave care with strengthened minds, holistic supports, and stable families.

At Wellroot Family Services, our mission is to restore children and families from trauma through Jesus Christ, but we cannot achieve this mission without supporters and donors like you. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to this mission.

Serving Together,

Allison Ashe President and CEO