People become foster parents for all kinds of reasons. Some feel called to protect children and give them a life of joy. Others step in because it feels like a way to create the kind of family they dream of.
For our Full-Time Professional Foster Parent at Lockport Village, Ernest Jones, it started with a woman he will never forget.
He was just eight years old when his family experienced a difficult chapter. Ernest and his younger sister were placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). He struggled to make sense of why his mom could not take care of them and just wanted things to go back to the way they were.
Instead, life brought them to the home of Elder Minnie Bell Reed.
Miss Minnie, as Ernest still calls her, welcomed them in as if they were her own children. She took them to church with her every Sunday for the brief year that she cared for them. Even in that short time, she loved them so deeply, Ernest can still feel it today.
After that year, Ernest always knew that one day, when the time was right, he would become a foster parent too.
In his early twenties he met a beautiful woman name LaConja. In a few years they married and had three biological children. Even before they decided to become foster parents, Ernest and LaConja always welcomed children over from nieces and nephews to neighbors and friends.
But once their children were grown, Ernest and LaConja finally made it official. They became Full-Time Professional Foster Parents at One Family Illinois.
That is when life brought Ernest and Miss Minnie back together, in a way he never imagined.
On his very first assignment with One Family Illinois, he was asked to support a Full-Time Professional Foster Parent already working for One Family Illinois. That mom was Miss Minnie. After all Miss Minnie had done for him, he could finally return the favor and help her nurture the children in her care with the same affection she showed him.
Over the years, he has fostered around 30 children. One conversation with Ernest confirms that Miss Minnie’s parenting philosophy guides him; “if you love these kids, they’ll love you back.”
Having experienced the foster care system firsthand, Ernest has a unique perspective. With the personal experience and knowledge he has gained as a parent, he is able to understand his foster children and provide what the support they need.
Ultimately, no teaching was more useful than Miss Minnie’s.
Known to Ernest as “the best foster mother to ever do it,” Miss Minnie passed away in October 2024 at 82 years old. Her legacy lives on at One Family Illinois, and through all the children she cared for.
