Stories

Marin’s Hope Totes

"Foster Children are not Garbage!" Imagine being a child entering foster care: you leave your home with little more than the clothes on your back and are handed a plastic garbage bag in which to carry your few possessions. Think about that: 4,000 children/year in Oregon enter foster care and are told on…

Mindy McFerrin: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight Mindy McFerrin was born and raised in Douglas County. As a mom, licensed pastor, certified Christian counselor, and volunteer board member of Aviva health, she has a heart for children and a desire to serve others. This makes her a great fit as Every Child Douglas' (ECD) Encouragement and Support co-coordinator…

What Brought You to This Difficult Work? Working for the Child Welfare agency for over 20 years and being asked the question, “What brought you to this difficult work”, took my thinking way back to when I was a child—traumatic childhood experiences. Having children of my own when I began this career, made me more…

DHS Child Welfare Staff Manager Story A DHS Staff Manager whose caseload is primarily with teenagers had this to say: "I would say that all of our staff have been working extra hard to really help address the issues of our foster kids/youth who are really struggling with distance learning due to Covid!! This has really…

DHS Child Welfare Program Manager Story One of DHS' Program Manager said that what immediately comes to their mind are the efforts they all make to keep kids out of temporary lodging. It’s a tremendous amount of work that impacts the staff across a number of program areas: • management team • certifiers •…

Rock, Meet Water One of the byproducts of being neck-deep in a graduate program is that I think a lot about cost-benefit analysis. The costs of caring for foster children are high. Financially, I can tell you with certainty that being my foster parent was not a profitable enterprise. However, the costs go far beyond…

Brandi Luiz on What Volunteering Means to Her Without our volunteers, we could not do the work we do to come alongside Oregon DHS to help those in and working with foster care. We would like to thank our volunteers for all the outstanding work they do. This month we are featuring Brandi Luiz, Community…

Harmony Klingenmeyer:Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight Over the last five years, Harmony and her husband Scott have had the privilege of parenting 16 children from the Douglas County foster system. They have been blessed to adopt three sons. They know that God is working miraculously in the lives of vulnerable children and families through the intervention, care,…

Jan Patton: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight

Jan Patton: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight We would like to thank our volunteers for all the outstanding work they do. This month we are focusing on Jan Patton a dedicated foster parent and ECHO Every Child Volunteer. If you would like to be a volunteer, please sign up here. There's always something for everyone. ECHO: What…

I entered foster care at the age of 16 with my 4 younger brothers that were 6 years old and younger. Our parents had serious drug problems and were very violent to each other and we didn't have a lot of money. We lived in cars, shelters, friends and family's houses. DHS said our house…

Stories

Marin’s Hope Totes

Mindy McFerrin: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight

What Brought You to This Difficult Work?

DHS Child Welfare Staff Manager Story

DHS Child Welfare Program Manager Story

Rock, Meet Water

Brandi Luiz

Harmony Klingenmeyer: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight

Jan Patton: Volunteer Appreciation Spotlight

Shyla’s Story

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