Joseph's Project: Building Strong Beginnings for Foster Families

Matthew Darrah (00:01)

Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. Today we're going to be visiting with Monica Sullivan from Joseph’s Project. But before we get to that, I want to put a huge shout out to our sponsor for this episode. ETC Bookkeeping empowers business owners with clear, accurate financials so that they can make confident decisions and focus on what they do best.

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and I have some kind of connection with them. And Janie has just been a Godsend. We can't afford a bookkeeper full-time or anything like that. And so when I have a question and I'm like, Janie, I don't understand this. She's like right there. She's great. So if you need help with QuickBooks, she's a wizard. She knows what she's doing. So today, like I said, we've got Monica Sullivan on with us today. Monica, thank you so much for coming. Of course. Especially on the last minute with a...

⁓ cancellation this morning. So ⁓ I appreciate that. just as a kind of a little bit of an intro, ⁓ Monica and I met a couple months ago through kind of a common person. And ⁓ Monica has allowed us to order some stuff. And it's actually sitting in their warehouse right now. We're going to pick it up on Friday and take it over to our Moses closet. But it it's saving us.

About 60%, I was looking at comparing Walmart prices to their prices and it's a significant savings. so just from an organizational perspective, thank you for letting us partner with you in that. It's just super helpful for our organization to be able to maximize those donor dollars that you understand. Yes, for sure. And that's what we're here for, to help one another. Yeah, yeah. One of my taglines is let's do this together.

We're all in this together. We're all trying to better the community and grow it and develop it and help folks that need help. And so we don't, we as an organization have never operated from a scarcity mindset where you stay away from my people and I'm gonna stay away from your people. We're working together to grow this community and to help folks. That's what it's about. Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think when you're in service, like it is not about.

your organization is about the people and the people that you're serving. Absolutely. So tell us a little bit about Joseph's Project as part of Catholic Family Charities. Just kind of give us what is it and why does it matter? Okay. Joseph's Project is a pregnancy resource center and it services anybody who is currently pregnant, both moms and dads, ⁓ families that are expecting a child. Also, we help

anyone who has custody of a child under the age of three, whether it's through foster parenting, adoption, or legal custody. Like in the Texas Panhandle, we have got quite a few grandparents who actually have custody of their grandchildren. So we're able to provide services for them as well. Right, right. And we help out with those things. Yeah, I took a placement package to a grandma a couple of weeks ago. She was 70 and she had her

nine month old grandson and she's like, my gosh, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm 70 years old. So yeah, it's it's definitely happens a lot. ⁓ St. Francis is really the state of Texas is really pushing for ⁓ the foster care system to put the kids with family as much as possible. And they just told me two weeks ago that 30, I think 34 percent of the kids that are coming into care right now are actually being placed with with some

some family somehow, which is, know, significantly from where it was. But yeah, so you're definitely, I mean, you're serving everybody, anybody that's got a kiddo that's three and under, right? Yes, yes. And it's a non-income based program. income is not a factor. Our services are based on need. So we're able to provide diapers, wipes, car seats, pack-in-plays. ⁓

So many other things, clothing, formula, baby food. And ⁓ the way that it works is we have these education classes and they can either be sent to them over their phone, over the computer, or they can zoom in with them and do the one-on-one or they can come into the center. We didn't like that because we have several people that have a really hard time just getting around town. Transportation is a huge issue around here.

serve 26 counties right now. in the Texas Panhandle. We're hitting actually 21 of those 26 counties right now. And so we do know that transportation is an issue. Yeah, if they're in Plainview, you know, and coming up for a class maybe. So what happens, so they take the class and they're in Plainview. How do they get their items? do you ship them to them?

So Plainview is actually out of our 26 counties. It's not to say that we can't see them because we absolutely could see them. And then we would make arrangements for a drop off or if they have a family member that lives here in Amarillo, as long as they have their ID and they list them as a pickup, they can actually have them pick them up from our center. Do you, so you, for families that are even in town and out of town, you guys deliver to them also?

Yes, there are some instances like we do go out to Hereford, we go out to Dimmitt, we go out to Friona, Tulia. Pretty soon we will be going out into the Dalhart area, Stratford, Cactus, Dumas. We'll be going out to Pampa, Borger, like we're adding more counties which we will be out on a more regular basis.

Because the need is so great and the amount of people that were getting from those counties coming in We're actually gonna go out and do classes there and take the items there Yeah, so they could pick up their wonders So they're not having to try to get to us that we would make it a lot easier to try to get it there Yeah, so I was at the foundation a couple weeks ago and and they put the you know, we live in the Panhandle We know it's big right but somebody

Somebody mentioned that the Panhandle is the size of West Virginia. wow. Doesn't that put it in perspective, like how big of an area we're serving? Yeah. Like, I mean, it's a whole state, you know? mean, you know, people that are up in the Northeast or something, they drive two hours, they've gone through seven states, you know? Right here, we've, you know, we're still in Texas. We're still in the Panhandle. So it's a huge ⁓ it's a huge area that we're that we're that we're supporting. So, yeah, for sure.

So where did this come from? How did Joseph's project come to exist? Well, it took a lot of persistence. I'll just say that. It took a lot of, ⁓ well, prior to coming to Amarillo to do this, I lived in Dumas and I ran the Care Net in Dumas. This was kind of during the COVID time. we were actually making trips to Amarillo at that time, to North Amarillo.

and setting up over there at North Hillside. And in the year that we did come, we had over 10,000 client visits out of North Amarillo alone. Wow. So was there a need? Absolutely. Yeah. Was there other things going on? Absolutely. Like you could see the mom came in with the marks on her neck or bruises on her face. You just saw that there was so much more going on. I remember going home one day and I told my husband, like, you know,

It's so hard to leave there when you see the need is so much. It's so great there. And he said, ⁓ well, we'll just have to pray about it. We'll pray about it. And so we talked about, ⁓ you know, moving down and really just committing to, hey, you know, this is where I feel like need to be, you know, and it just didn't leave me. Like, I just knew in my heart that I needed to be in North Amarillo. Where?

I don't know, I don't even know how it was going to work. I just believed that the Lord was calling me to North Amarillo. So, ⁓ I went, I did go at that time, my board wasn't willing to open up a center in North Amarillo. And so, I actually ⁓ ended up resigning there. And I didn't have a job, nothing lined out. Like, we sold our house, like, and just took a leap of faith and said, you know, this is where He's calling us, so...

were going there and believing that God's gonna open doors and that's pretty much what we did. You took a step, a step of faith. Yeah, and you know, and then a part of me was like, I really felt, would you give it all to follow me? You know, I kept on hearing that, would you give it all to follow me? And so when I did come down, I actually had met Jeff through Amarillo Area Foundation, the leader circle. You know, he was there and I met Jeff years ago and became friends and

I went and asked him, hey, you know, set up a couple of meetings with him and asked him if Catholic Charities would ever consider opening up a pregnancy center. And at the time, they really weren't open to it. But I think what really, ⁓ really kind of was helpful is that I was willing to work without pay. ⁓ you know, that doesn't, you know, having somebody come in and say,

Let me write an entire program for you and for your organization and don't worry about paying me or anything. Let me just get this started. So I think that that right there opened the door because I knew that it needed to be done. How it was going to be done, I have no idea how we're going to do it, but we did. I was the only employee at the time under my program when I wrote that first grant to the foundation.

And I'm so grateful. It always will be for Matt Morgan coming over and listening to us and meeting with Jeff and I and just listening to what we were wanting to do. we're totally on board with it. And if it wasn't for the Emerald Area Foundation, our doors wouldn't have, we wouldn't have been able to get it started. It's been amazing since then. So from one employee to 14 employees today.

That's awesome. Yeah, that's kind of how that started. you you do what all what all things do you do? Because I know you talked about, you know, the parenting classes and things like that. What all what all types of services do you guys provide? OK, we do do we absolutely push the education. The education is based on the age of the child in order to receive the things that we're able to provide. So they do that. We're able to help with.

diapers and wipes all the way up until the child is three. It's not just a one-time thing. Yeah. It's all the way till the child is three years old and they we also help with pull up some baby clothing and there's gonna be some times that you have families in transition where they may have lost a job ⁓ or something may have happened. Mom went in to have the baby not necessarily in foster care but like they've gone in to have a baby and is out of work. Yeah. You know for a few weeks and

You know, you have a two-income family or a one-income family, and that makes it really hard. So, depending on the circumstances, you know, there are circumstances where we're able to step in and help with rent or utilities or things like that. ⁓ There are instances that we can step in for that. ⁓ We're very grateful to be inside the, we're located at 1101 ⁓ Fridge Highway inside the Bethesda Outreach. And Pastor Russ is amazing. Like, they have food packed already.

If we have a client come in and there's no groceries, like we're able to go over and talk to some one of his employees to get food or if there's clothing issue, like we're able to step over and go and get clothing with our families. So it's more than just a, you know, hey, I'm over here just for this or that. Like that's it. We help with so much more. We are ⁓ also community ⁓ partners with HHSC, which allows us to, we have our own portal. So we're able to apply for like

Chip, Medicaid, Snap, help navigate them through that and get that process done. Even if they're not able to get to a safe, in ⁓ Fritch that needs to apply for something, may not live here, but we can do all of that with them over the phone. Like we can do a lot of that stuff remote with them. And so we can go back and forth and try to get things done for them.

So, wow, that's, yeah, didn't know you guys did all that stuff as well. how does, in your mind, how does Joseph's Project and foster families, how do they intersect? What does that look like for you? Well, we definitely, we do have some foster families actually in our program. And we just get them connected. They come in, fill out the paperwork. We set up class times with them.

If there is more of a need in the family, like say, it just depends on the age of the child or what the child has and doesn't have, like we're able to step in and help with some other things as well if we need to. You know, if there's a need for a bed or, you know, as long as the child is under the age of three, if it's a toddler bed or if it's, you know, a toddler mattress or bedding or anything like that, we're able to step in and help with those things to get them what they need for that baby. Get them started, yeah. Yes. Yeah. So,

So early support, you're developing relationships, right? This isn't just to come in, grab some stuff off the shelf and leave type thing. You're developing relationships with the folks in your program. Absolutely. They have more than likely they'll have the same caseworker if they jump from one caseworker to the next or whatever. There's typically a reason why we would move someone with one caseworker. Like if they're...

You can see in the very beginning when you're working with someone if it's there, that relationship or not, or if they feel comfortable with you or not. So sometimes a male will probably feel more comfortable with another male and we have a male counselor. So ⁓ he would work with him. And so we tried to pair them up and ⁓ they do. They come in and they build that relationship. They're doing those classes together and...

I personally like the one on one coming in. I understand like they can't always come in. So even the zoom, the zoom is great because you still get to see each other and talk and stuff like that. And I think making that connection and building that relationship is probably the most important thing out of all of it. Because a lot of times when you're navigating through whether it's foster care, parenthood or early parents, like

Any conversation, adult conversation that you have is welcomed. And some of these moms, we've started some mom groups there. And it's really, they just want to be heard. ⁓ Even if it's 30 minutes, they just want to be heard. That's so true, I mean, part of the reason for this podcast, it's a place for coffee connection and community, right? Because, and I say this all the time, we do better in community. We do better.

when we're around folks that speak the same language, that have the same thought processes and stuff. Not that we need to be in an echo chamber where we don't interact with anybody else, but with foster families, they don't have some of the same experiences as a family that just has bio kids. And so they can't fully understand what another foster parent's going through. And so connecting with other...

foster families is it's just just so helpful and so I mean I can I could definitely see you know when they're in crisis and they're coming to you and they just need help you know it's one thing to give them a handout but it's another thing to give them a hand up right you're developing that relationship with them you're hopefully teaching them some skills you're changing you're changing the trajectory of this family right because you're not because you're not just giving them some stuff and walking away

No. You're developing that relationship with You know, even if they were to come in and say that they had a class scheduled for that day, an education class, but we don't know what happened before they got there. We don't know what happened the night before. And they come in and say, ⁓ you know what, Monica, I really don't feel like doing the class. I just need somebody to talk to. You know, that's fine. Like, you know what, I'm going to change while you're here and we're just going to...

let me go get you something to drink, let's just sit over here, or there's another room they can go sit down on the couch and be more comfortable and just visit. And they can just spend that time there. I love it, I love it. Building those relationships is what, we did a five part series on trauma and we talked about how people have, they,

in order to heal from those traumatic things, they need those connections, they need the relationships with other folks that are gonna help them along the way. yeah. And I always say, ⁓ and I do stress this to the caseworkers, I don't care what somebody walks in dressed like, smells like, it doesn't matter. You're not there for that. You're there to meet that person exactly where they're at.

That in itself like that first interaction is based that will basically set the tone. Yeah for everything for sure and so You really need to be careful because you can either Turn somebody away from your organization completely or show them that a god be love that God be love like you just and that's what we're there for you know, you know, do you have a like recent

really powerful story that you want to share? Let me see. Well, I do have a pretty good story. I did have a family that recently with everything that's going on, the work permits have been pulled and different things. And I have families that have little ones and both mom and dad had a work permit to work and then they weren't able to work.

and they were being kicked out of their apartment Sunday. They were going to be kicked out if they didn't pay their rent. And they're scheduled to go back. You know, they've already got their plane tickets and everything, but I couldn't imagine going home to tell your kids and your wife, like, I don't know where we're going to stay for the next couple weeks until we leave because...

will be homeless, like literally in the streets. And so I was so grateful that I got that phone call. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon and we had till five o'clock to pay that to take care of it, to keep them from being evicted that day. And this was on Sunday? Yeah, they were going to be evicted on Sunday, but it had to be paid by Friday afternoon or something. So we got it taken care of. so, you know, I'm just so grateful for that. Like to me, doesn't...

Everybody sees immigration, all that stuff so differently, but it's the life of a child. And these are children that are in the home. And so, we can go, I'm just so grateful to be a U.S. citizen and live in one of the greatest countries in the world, because that's not something that we worry about. But this little family, it was devastating. It's been devastating for them. to not know where his...

him and his kids or his wife were going to be staying for last few weeks. And to be able to come alongside and say, know what, you have participated since before your child was born and your baby is now a year and a half and you've done everything that we've asked you. This is the least that we can do to come alongside you and help you get through this. And they were just...

They were just so overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that we would be able to do that. They didn't even want to ask. They came from somewhere else. Like the city ended up calling us. Like it didn't even come from them asking us. Because it's humiliating. Yeah, he said he didn't want to ask. He didn't know how to ask. ⁓ So that in itself, like that said a lot. Like he just didn't know what to do.

It is. Listen, I'm not trying to get into politics. The reality is about a year and a half ago, I was so overwhelmed with everything that was going on in my life. I was a news junkie. I was always listening to talk radio or watching the news or whatever, and I just got done with it. And so I haven't been paying attention. But what I understood was that they were going to be going after like MS-13 members and stuff like that. There's a guy that was a translator in our church.

at Hillside North Campus that he's been here for like 30 years and he went back, you know? And so anyways, I don't want to get into all of that. So if a foster family wanted to connect with you guys, what do they do? They would just give us a call at 806-350-4600.

and set up an appointment or they can go to cctxp.org and go to programs and you can click on Joseph's project, go to the very bottom and fill out that information and send it and it will go straight to our office. So they just get connected to us. So do they, ⁓ so that's like an intake form and then they have to come in and like do an interview and all that kind of stuff or how does that work? So how that works is that they will set up a...

an appointment with them to do their initial intake because the intake paperwork, promise you, it's like 3 pages long, but they will never fill out that many pages again. And then of course they have to like the consent, the confidentiality, like they fill those out because sometimes if they're going to participate in group classes and stuff, there'll be other people. So ⁓ the confidentiality and ⁓ all that kind of stuff and ⁓ we just get them started.

We get them started and that day that they come in they will not leave empty-handed They'll go with some things that they need for their babies. That's Very cool. So ⁓ what if they wanted to volunteer? What if I'm because I do I have a lot of foster families that they they're they're doing this They're not doing it for a paycheck. They're doing it because they care about kids and helping kids and so a lot of our volunteers are Foster families that are just looking for ways to volunteer you guys have ways to do that

Absolutely. have on that same website, cctxp.org, there's volunteer. They would just go online and fill out the information there and get that turned in. there are certain backgrounds that have to be cleared because we're around kids and they would know as well. ⁓ probably the same ones. So they could, there's times that we have events or we

have things that need to be moved in the warehouse. You saw the 12 pallets of diapers. So sometimes we have to get that stuff moved or we need help getting things put in order. And it's nonstop. We always, always have things to do. 12 pallets of diapers. I got two pallets and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so much stuff. talk to me about, I know you said, so it's Joseph's Project, but it's part of Catholic Family Charities. So what is...

What does Catholic Family Charities do? I don't even Catholic Family Charities is a non-profit organization, and it has several entities under it. Like we have ⁓ the immigration services. We also have the Interfaith Hunger Project. There's a eyeglass program under there. There's an education program under Catholic Charities. And then there's a pregnancy center under Catholic Charities. it's like...

The Umbrella, it is a nonprofit. And I always tell Jeff, it's, we literally, I feel like when we're serving in the capacity that we serve, there's no way that you can't see that, that God is in middle of that. Like, just, the capacity of the people that we see in our programs is unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how long has Catholic Family Charity been around? 99 years. It could be 100 by now.

Last year was 99 years for a very long time. That's cool. Yeah, that's cool. And so, ⁓ so let's kind of a call to action. If folks like said, or they wanted to connect with you, they go to and we'll put this down in the show notes too, but it's cctxp.org. then and then they can just go to programs and then Joseph's project. Yes, then call the ⁓

They can call them at, what was the number? 806-350-4600. How many, do you know, I'm sure you do, like listen, I'm trying to get this lady to help me with some grant stuff myself, so I know you know the numbers. How many folks did you guys serve last year? Just Joseph's Project. Oh gosh, like last year, well over 1600 individual families. Since we've been open, since the doors have opened, it's well over 3000 families.

We have over 500 dads. It was 400 and something. I did pull the numbers the other day and we're well over 500 dads in our program right now. Wow. In the program actively right now? Actively right now, yes. And they're doing parenting classes and they're all the things. Yes, and a lot of our dads work. Yeah. they will call at break and say, can you send me my dad class real quick?

I'm on break right now. I've got like 15, 20 minutes. Like, can you send that to me? Yeah. You know, and so he'll watch his class and then he'll call his wife and say, Hey, I've watched my class. Can you go pick up my diapers? Or when you pick up your diapers, can you grab mine too? You know, so their help, you know, they may have two children under the age of three.

So one gets for one, the other one gets for the other. And so they're able to continue to do what they're doing. One's working, one's at home with the kids. So it does help. Every little bit helps. Absolutely. I was reading a report from Christian Alliance for Orphans, ⁓ and they said that the diapers was the fourth most expensive expense that a family has, is diapers.

⁓ And so, know food clothing shelter, blah blah blah diapers diapers are friggin expensive. Yeah, and so ⁓ So these type of these classes there we're not sitting here talking like a three-hour class to get no 10 diapers or something like that want to know how long these classes are like 15 to 20 minutes maybe and in the thing is is that

If they get them sent to them, they can watch it at any time within a three-day span or seven days. They can ask, can you extend me out for seven days? Or can you extend me for three days? When the class is complete, it's not like they're just going to get like 10 diapers. They get a full, closed 25-pack of diapers. So if we see a family that's more in need, ⁓ so you have maybe a...

single parent household with five children. You know that that needs going to be a lot more than a one parent, one child household with a dad in the home and mom and know, dad's working. There's more of a need there. So that mom is going to be allowed to do more than just one class a week to get through the week because she may have more than just one child in diapers by herself. So we do make the exception where we

Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and get her, she can be approved for two classes a week, so she can get that 50 diapers a week instead of just the 25 to help her get through the week. And she may be working ⁓ her job or whatever, but we're able to ⁓ make those adjustments to kind of help fit the need. yeah, and I'm so grateful that we're able to provide full packs of diapers to our families. ⁓

Because 10 diapers is not, you know as well as I do, 10 diapers is gonna be like two days tops. It's not gonna be more than that. So ⁓ who does these classes? Are these classes that you guys put together teaching things? We have a subscription and so we have a certain curriculum that we use and so we're able to either send them to them over, they can do one on ones or they can do a...

have it sent to their phone or whatever. But the beauty of this is that you can actually see from the time that they opened it how long it took him to complete it, if it was completed or not. And there's like four or five questions that ask at the end. So they're accountable for what they watched. If they have to watch it again, they watch it again. But it's holding them accountable for that. And so they get credit for that.

Sure. there's, would imagine, do you know a percentage of how many, and this might be just too detailed, what I'm trying to get at is how many single moms there are versus family, versus a mom and a dad. Do you know, is it half and half? Oh no, I have to pull it, but it's probably more 70-30. I have more single parent households than I do.

households that are together and I have a higher percentage of unmarried than we do married like you see the you see it in the in the program. Yeah, you know And you see the struggle. Yeah. Yeah because I mean

daycare bills, everything. Right, right. Not saying that every family that has a mom and a dad is successful, but the families that are a mom and a dad together, they have a higher probability of being successful than if it's just one. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my mom, my wife was a single mom for six or seven years, and it is tough. ⁓ It's tough. And so, you know, it's critical that

that the support is there and, you know, hopefully bring in some dads into the picture that.

Wouldn't have been in the picture is my hope. Yeah, and you know and one thing that I do tell my ⁓ Moms because a lot of times when they sign up and i'm like well you can bring your child's father as well. Well, we're not together If he would consider doing the classes he can still benefit off of, know helping you with your baby He can give you the diapers he can you know, you guys can work together like that And you would not believe just opening that door like that. Yeah, how many dads have said yes?

I'll do the classes to help her get diapers for my baby. That's good. Help her get the things I need for her baby. I will do whatever I need to. You know, just because we didn't work out doesn't mean that I don't want to help her. Right. You so you do see that. That's good. That's really good. That's good.

Okay, so 350-4600, right? 350-4600, you guys have a social media page, Facebook, Instagram, all that kind of stuff? Yes, we have our Catholic Charities. We're on Catholic Charities Facebook. You're part of their Facebook? Yes. Okay, so we'll link that down below too for folks to connect that way. again, Monica, can't tell you how much I appreciate, number one, you're just being flexible and just coming up here with like an hour's notice. ⁓

And

coming on the podcast. I really appreciate it. You guys provide a really important resource for for families Well, thank you. And you know, I don't want you think I didn't have nothing to do. I absolutely have things to do I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it at all I mean you go you talk about going from one non-paid employee to 14 in 36 months

That's, yeah, that doesn't happen by accident. mean, we went from no employees for six, seven years to one employee. So I don't doubt it at all. So I do, really do appreciate, and I really appreciate just the opportunity to tack onto your order and.

and store that stuff with us and for us until we time to bring it over. That's tremendous help for us. It's just, you know, ⁓ everything we can do to make the cost of our placement package.

lower just means that we can do more and more. And so every every partnership that we that we have just helps with that. And so I appreciate it. really do. Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. So much for for having us as well. guys, thanks again one more time to Janey with ETC Bookkeeping. She is such a sweet lady. If you need QuickBooks help, give her a call. 806-626-7050.

And guys, so far this year we've done 84 placement packages, which is more than we did all of last year. Last year we did 80, which was more than we did the year before. So we're hoping to double it again this year, but that's out of about 600 kids that come into foster care in the 26 counties. So we've got a long ways to go to get where every kid who gets a placement package, and we need your help to do that.

We ask for placement package partners. $100 a month buys us all the clothes we need for one placement package. $50 buys us a case of diapers. And $10 buys us an outfit. So if you're interested in that, we'll put a link down in the description below to become placement package partners. Guys, we appreciate it, and thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you.