A new year has arrived, and with it, an abundance of new intentions, goals, and resolutions, but none have quite the impact or the long-lasting effects of transforming your life in a way that helps others.
If you’ve been searching for a path to set out on this new year that will leave you feeling rewarded, full of hope, and deeply fulfilled, becoming a Foster Parent for siblings in Illinois foster care may be that calling you’re meant to answer.
Make a Difference in Your Life and the Lives of Children by Becoming a Foster Parent in the New Year
When you become a Foster Parent with One Family Illinois, you become part of an incredible team of loving individuals that are making huge differences in the lives of children in foster care.
As a Foster Parent, you help provide hope and security to sibling groups at risk of separation in foster while, while helping to heal families throughout our communities. Through the generosity and tender hearts of our full-time Foster Parents, as well as the dedicated time and attention from our staff, the children in our care are able to grow and thrive.Our success rates prove that the stability of our Foster Parents matters: Youth in foster care at One Family Illinois annually celebrate a 100% high school graduation rate, compared to the national average of around 50% of youth in traditional foster care. Additionally, 98% of youth across all age groups attended 90% or more days of school in 2019. Without frequent disruptions to move and change schools, consistency in foster parenting allowing our youth to focus on their academics, build peer groups, and succeed.
What better way to contribute in this new year than to make a positive difference in the lives of children who need you?
When You Become a Foster Parent with One Family Illinois, You Aren’t Alone
One of the most incredible things about the work we do at One Family Illinois is that we have created beautiful communities where both Foster Parents and the youth in our care can access the support and help they need, whenever they need it.
Jeannette Rush was a Foster Parent and continued to serve as a mentor to new Foster Parents. When it comes to our supportive family, Jeannette shared,
“With One Family Illinois, we’re a Village, and it takes a Village. I know back in my day it took a Village to raise children, and you could always depend on your neighbors. What I’ve found with One Family Illinois is that a lot of parents are dedicated to that and say ‘Let’s help each other.’ So you can always turn to someone for help when you need advice about this or that or whatever might be the issue at the time. There’s always someone that has the skills or expertise to help.”
In addition to peer support from other Foster Parents, each Village is staffed with case management teams, clinical therapists, an education and activities coordinator, and a full administrative team for Foster Parents to access. With these resources always on hand, Foster Parents at One Family Illinois can feel confident that they have the tools and support they need in order to provide loving care to the children in their homes.
What Does it Mean to be a Full-Time Foster Parent with One Family Illinois?
SOS Illinois Foster Parents don’t clock in and clock out and return home at the end of the day. They make a very real change to their lives when joining our team in this role. As we like to say: being a Foster Parent at One Family Illinois is not just a career—its a vocation!
Our Foster Parents move into one of our three Chicagoland Villages and take care of up to six brothers and sisters in a single-family home in one of those Villages. One Family Illinois Foster Parents attend to the daily schedules and diverse needs of each of the children in their home, nearly 24/7 (our part-time, on-call Relief Parents provide weekly relief time, and Foster Parents also have access to paid vacation time, like all full-time employees at One Family Illinois).
As a full-time, professional One Family Illinois Foster Parent, your role is so much more than just a job. Our Foster Parents are deeply invested in the healing, development, and growth of the brothers and sisters in their care on a daily and ongoing basis. Specifically, our Foster Parents work alongside case managers, court systems. and biological parents to ensure that a child’s permanency plan towards a forever home is followed.
Check out what Roosevelt Square Village Foster Parent, Jenny Wray, shared about her heart-tugging role in her children’s permanency goals.
Interested in Becoming a Foster Parent in the New Year? Here’s What You Should Know:
SOS Children’s Villages Illinois is looking for nurturing individuals, domestic partners, or married couples interested in devoting their lives to the profession of Foster Parent. Among other essential qualities and qualifications, we are looking for those who are:
- Experienced with children, either as parents or by working with children in another environment
- Adept at supporting the needs of behaviorally complex children with a history of mental, emotional, or physical trauma
- Able to discipline fairly and willing to learn behavior-management skills
- Skilled in managing a household and a budget
- Self-sufficient thinkers with a collaborative spirit and positive outlook on life
If you’d like to find out more about how you can transform your life this year by helping children in foster care as a full-time Foster Parent, head to this page. On it, you’ll find helpful information about this role, interviews with Foster Parents, and a video on the ten phases of becoming a Foster Parent at One Family Illinois.
Does becoming a full-time Foster Parent with One Family Illinois call to your heart? You can apply today to become a Foster Parent, or connect with our recruitment team to chat.