Why Foster Care: Stories from A World for Children

Matthew Darrah (00:00.0)

Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. Grab your coffee and hopefully sit in a nice easy chair. And we're just going to have a conversation with some famous ladies with A World for Children. We'll get to them in a minute. This episode is sponsored by Ennis Inspections. Because when it comes to your home, what you don't know can't hurt you.

Matthew Darrah (00:28.28)

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Matthew Darrah (00:57.426)

And I say this most every week, but Morgan's a friend. He's in a group of mine, and he's a great guy. So if you need, if you're buying a house and you need somebody to look at it make sure you're not buying a dump, then he's a good one to pick. So thank you, ladies, again for coming. So introduce us. OK, my name is Jessica Carey. I am the program director at A World for Children. I've been there since February. OK, and you are?

Matthew Darrah (01:26.54)

My name is Davina Ybarra and I am one of two regional director of marketing and recruitment for our entire agency. For the whole state, Yeah, I only cover four offices though. But I've been with the agency since January of 2021. all right, very good. So as an area director, what does that mean? Yeah, so it's...

Matthew Darrah (01:54.484)

Me as the program director and our case manager, Rachel Peoples, we are going to be working directly with families to get them licensed. Davina helps with the process up until licensing, but the sort of a partnership in the beginning. And then once licensed, we're going to be managing the homes and making sure they're up to code and deal with any issues that arise. So I did not say earlier that I also fostered with the World for Children as a foster parent.

Matthew Darrah (02:24.367)

for 10 years coming around in this way. We've got a few placement packages too. Yes. That's why I love doing this work because of you guys- Panhandle Orphan Care and Amarillo Angels. We have a great support network for families. Yeah, It's a lot different than it was not that long ago. So talk to us about A World for Children for a little bit. What is it?

Matthew Darrah (02:52.429)

What's the purpose, what's different about A World for Children versus maybe some of the other agencies? Yeah, so what we do is we contract with the state and we license homes. So kiddos that don't have a place or who have found themselves in the foster care system, they need somewhere to stay while they're...

Matthew Darrah (03:17.963)

biological family or parents work services. And so that's where foster parents come in. And what we do is we work to recruit and license foster homes for these kiddos. And so we provide case management. Each family will get a case manager that oversees that family, make sure that their home is in.

Matthew Darrah (03:44.526)

compliance with the state minimum standards and just be a support for that family and help them navigate through the foster care system. So that's what we at A World for Children do. And so there's, do you know how many agencies there are in Amarillo? Seven, eight? I don't know if it's a whole number, but yeah. so, okay, so what brought you into this?

Matthew Darrah (04:13.739)

foster care, child welfare thing? Be ready, because I'm asking you that. Yeah, well, I went through the social work program at WT. I knew about foster care, just kind of the general public knowledge of foster care.

Matthew Darrah (04:38.052)

I really my goal was really to be a school social worker. I worked at an elementary local elementary school for eight years and I always have to shout her out Sabra McLean was is still the social worker there and I just watched every day what she did in serving the the school in the community not just the school but just the community in general and I was like I want to do that and so I thought I wanted to teach didn't want to do that but I knew I wanted to work with kids so I went to

Matthew Darrah (05:07.577)

my social work degree, I did an internship at Amarillo College. And then once I graduated, I wanted to be again a school social worker, but those positions don't come open very often in AISD because they're all great at what they do and they love what they do, so they stay. And so, after graduating, I started just applying, looking on Indeed.

Matthew Darrah (05:33.326)

for a place to work and I happened to come across A World for Children, had never heard of A World for Children. Like I've lived in Amarillo my whole life and I had never heard of A World for Children. And I never considered foster care as a field, like as a...

Matthew Darrah (05:51.226)

a portion of the field to work in as a social worker. And so I applied, I got an interview, went great, and then they hired me and I was like, it opened up a whole new world for me. So that's how I came into foster care. To become part of the foster care world. What about you? So foster care...

Matthew Darrah (06:12.683)

was kind of new to my life about 2012 is when I actually began to be a foster parent. But I did get my undergrad in social work from Howard Payne University.

Matthew Darrah (06:25.517)

And so when we moved here in 2007, my husband and I didn't know anybody was for his job. I just jumped back into school at WT and got my master's in social work there. And then became a mom, had my first child and through long story, but a circumstance through a family of kids that needed a home. I knew enough about foster care to know just a tiny bit about the system. But we had made a phone call, like, you

Matthew Darrah (06:55.471)

We have room for one or two of those kids that needed a place. Ended up taking a fictive kin placement of one of them in 2012. And then that was when my eyes were opened to the need in our area. The foster care community here is so welcoming. And so I met a lot of people that first year. And then we became licensed. I ended up at A World for Children because they have a branch in Brownwood, Texas. And so I just kind of named recognition knew them.

Matthew Darrah (07:25.431)

there, made a phone call and kind of the rest is history. We ended up fostering for 10 years just because, you know, we had the ability and the time and loved it. So do you know how many kiddos you? our situation is a little different than I know. A lot of people have, you know, 20, 30 kids come through their homes. We only had three three placements. We took breaks between each one and they all one went home for four years and came back. But overall, they're all now my children forever.

Matthew Darrah (07:55.263)

Matthew Darrah (07:55.563)

So yeah, yeah Yeah, there's so I this the state data that I the last time I looked at it as region one The recidivism rate was like it's like 45 % within five years. So I mean Yeah, and the reality of that affects her today and and yet She's doing great. Yeah, other ones, you know, we're here and stayed

Matthew Darrah (08:23.084)

from placement one. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So what is that, 13 years in the foster care world? Yeah, really like 10. We took some pretty long breaks after adoption. sure. So then why come work at A World for Children? Well...

Matthew Darrah (08:44.554)

The kids all got into school and it was time to go back to work. I was excited to get back in child welfare to some degree. I was doing home studies through Monty and Associates. So I was doing some state home studies for about five years, just very part time. And I really loved going into people's homes and telling them about, you know, what was resources were available to them. So when I jumped back into looking full time, I ended up at Amarillo Angels. They were hiring. It was awesome. I loved working for

Matthew Darrah (09:14.478)

for them, and then the opportunity came at A World for Children to take this position. And I knew I had some growth, obviously, but I feel like the Lord just kind of had me prepared. After all those years of working as a foster parent and then doing home studies, I felt really equipped. And like I said before, just...

Matthew Darrah (09:37.248)

We had a lot of support from our church community, but other people, when I was seeing out doing home studies, that there wasn't a lot of support. And now there is with Panhandle Orphan Care Network, with your care packages. Amarillo Angels can fill a lot of gaps and create some community for our families, kinship and licensed families. So I think that's pretty awesome for me to get to go out and recruit families and say, there's all this available for you. yeah. One of the kinship workers,

Matthew Darrah (10:07.151)

So they had a, St. Francis had a resource thing, I don't know, six weeks ago or something like that for their kinship families But I was talking to one of their kinship workers and she said at this point like 34 % are in kinship homes right now, which is a lot. That is, yeah.

Matthew Darrah (10:31.169)

that's comparative to, I don't know what the numbers were before, but I know the state is pushing really, really hard to get the kids to be in kinship. Stay with families, yeah. And I think that's so important, definitely pro-reunification and want kids to stay with relatives. I think that's really, really beautiful. the fact that Fostering Hope, I know, does a lot of getting furniture in beds and making it possible for these families to make that work.

Matthew Darrah (11:01.189)

Yeah, we've had some requests and as far as, you know, like, you know, I'm getting my kids back next week, can you guys help us? And that's just not our mission and so we just can't. Yeah, but it's a team effort. I mean, think that's what every agency kind of has their own, every nonprofit has their own niche. We license families and we support them in our ways and we can talk about that in a little bit. you know, we rely on you. different things, yeah. And I think that's one of the greatest things too about our community is that

Matthew Darrah (11:31.028)

that

Matthew Darrah (11:33.389)

different organizations aren't afraid to say, well, okay, we can't help you, we're sorry, but everybody refers to somebody else. It's all a community effort, and that's it takes. so that's what I do like about our community is that every place is not, so many places aren't afraid to just refer them to somebody else, even if they can't help them.

Matthew Darrah (11:57.74)

A lot of times if there's a need for a piece of furniture or something like that, we can't. I I don't have the room to store them. I don't have them. And so it's often when I give them Sydney or David's information or give Sydney and David their information to call them because they need a bed or this or that or whatever. And every placement package gets information on Joseph's project, on the Amarillo Angels and various...

Matthew Darrah (12:27.405)

different organizations that... The whole reason we started this podcast, when the state did the phase two funding for Heart Gallery, the study that they used from last spring, spring of 24, one of the top requests for region one was...

Matthew Darrah (12:49.773)

a place to find out about the resources that are available. And God had been telling me since January, okay, you should start a podcast. like, I don't know nothing about a podcast. I mean, I like listening to them. I don't know anything about doing one. And I had no idea what in the world I would do with a podcast. And then when I saw that study, was like, man, because I know, since I've started this podcast, there are a ton of resources that I didn't even know were out there.

Matthew Darrah (13:19.727)

It's like, man, this is awesome. Getting to learn all this and hopefully, know, hopefully folks are getting to listen and learn. We had Monica on from Joseph's project a couple weeks ago and things like that. And so there are a bunch of resources out there, but how do you find them? Yeah, you have to know. And so we had, Joni.

Matthew Darrah (13:46.156)

something she's with a horse therapy place. Was supposed to be on last week or two weeks ago and ended up we have to reschedule. She had some issues come up, but there are. There's a ton of resources out there, but just finding them is the tough part. okay, so I'm gonna ask you both. What's the greatest part of working in this part and then the toughest part? Who wants to go first? You have one?

Matthew Darrah (14:15.893)

No, not yet. The greatest part for me is seeing families with kids and when the kids are thriving and getting access to what they need. mean, that just makes me really, really happy when we have families come by and grab a cup of coffee and sit and chat with us. We love that connection. I love getting to go into homes. Like I said, when I was doing home studies, that was my favorite part, going to get get to see.

Matthew Darrah (14:45.453)

In their home environment and how foster care works because for every family, you know, it looks a little different. Yeah The needs are different. But when we're able to connect and either meet a need or find a resource That's pretty exciting for me Probably the most challenging is getting those placement requests and knowing that I have to answer no beds available I hope I never get too calloused to that

Matthew Darrah (15:12.171)

But yeah, we need more families in our area to keep kids local. And so that's hard when you know there's babies all the way up to teens that need just a safe place to land to find some healing and get some permanency, whether that's back home with family or adoption. I think the numbers I got from the state was about 15%.

Matthew Darrah (15:35.478)

of the kids currently in care aren't even in Region 1. They're somewhere else. I think the number I saw recently was like...

Matthew Darrah (15:43.694)

close to 180, something like that, that are out of our area currently. And so we did open some new homes this summer and I'm excited to say that two of those kiddos got back in the region so they can have face-to-face visits with family. And I think that's just a healthier way and a more fair way for kids to have a chance to reunify if possible. Yeah, I kind of...

Matthew Darrah (16:10.197)

Liking it to being dropped in the middle of the Amazon jungle naked, right? When you're not even in the county that you're from, you're not in the same school, you're using the same phones. And now, I'm from Lubbock and now I'm in San Antonio, or I'm from San Antonio and I'm in Lubbock or whatever. So just being all across the state, yeah, that's gotta be tough when you know that these kids are coming in and you don't have anywhere to put them.

Matthew Darrah (16:38.315)

Yeah, and it takes, you know, there it does take effort and there are a lot of rules to follow as foster parents. But, you know, we have like single foster parents, we have couples that are fostering, we have, you know, all kinds of families can foster. so we are we're open to, you know, talking and meeting and, you know, figuring out what that looks like for you. So. OK.

Matthew Darrah (17:06.413)

Probably So I've had a few different positions while being with the agency But I have to I think I have to say the most rewarding thing for me was being a case manager going I Loved it going to my home visits every month and Seeing the progress that the kids were making hearing about

Matthew Darrah (17:33.422)

you know, those foster families that were really involved with the bio family, hearing about how they were trying to work together with the bio family. But also, she kind of mentioned it already. So at our office, we have a little coffee bar set up. It's a pretty sweet set I have to brag about that all the time. Davina's Delight. Davina's Delight, like that. It's a whole thing.

Matthew Darrah (18:02.347)

When foster parents that are just feeling overwhelmed, we had a foster mom not too long ago, a couple of months ago, she sent me an email and she was like, hey, like, it's been a rough day. Can you make me a cup of coffee? need a vent. And so she literally came. I made her her coffee and she sat in our conference room and I had to take a picture without her knowing, but

Matthew Darrah (18:32.269)

It was it was so beautiful like she was sitting at her table venting about like all All the chaos that was going on, right? And our staff were just sitting in a semi-circle around her. Yeah, she's sipping coffee and she's

Matthew Darrah (18:49.301)

Venting even though she knows that we can't fix it right it just helped her to know that yeah, we were all there listening Yeah, that I love that like it was just it was so sweet And I look at that picture a lot Just because I'm just like okay. You got to remember what you're doing here the reason you're doing it and so that's that's probably one of The most rewarding thing to me the worst

Matthew Darrah (19:17.677)

Hardest part just I Think like at the state level just dealing with all You know what I mean, I'm just dealing with people in charge of foster care mmm That don't really know. Yeah, they have no experience and the choices you love lawmakers making decisions

Matthew Darrah (19:47.478)

with no...

Matthew Darrah (19:49.73)

background in foster care and not really knowing, not seeing, not being hands on. The people in charge, a lot of people in charge are not hands on and so they are making decisions that affect our kids and our families. And don't really understand it. And so that can be one of the most frustrating parts for us. One thing that shocks, and I say this in just a little bit, didn't hear either one of y'all complain about how many hours a week you work.

Matthew Darrah (20:17.933)

No! It doesn't feel like work when it's a passion. That's right. That's right. That's right. I mean, so, you know, I often tell folks that one of the toughest jobs has got to be the caseworkers, because, I mean, I've seen them work 40, 60, 80 hours. mean, the first time we had the boys, they were one and three. And the state, this was...

Matthew Darrah (20:46.957)

Right around, this was about 2010, 2010, 11. So the state was on hiring freeze. The market had tanked. This is right around the housing market collapse and all these things. And so the state was losing caseworkers like flies. And our fourth caseworker that year, we were her 54th case. Oh wow. Yeah. And so.

Matthew Darrah (21:13.173)

Yeah, she wasn't working 40 hours a week, eight, five. And then that's not a caseworker. That's not, because I mean, yes, some foster families stay home, the mom stays home or something like that, sure. But a lot of them, I mean, they're both working. We have many working families. Yeah, so it's not like you can just pop in at 10 o'clock Wednesday morning to check on the kids. I if they're working.

Matthew Darrah (21:39.234)

full time and then you're there at six, seven, eight o'clock at night whenever they can make it work, right? And so I just, I really wish that some folks could see like the...

Matthew Darrah (21:58.754)

the difficulty from the caseworker's side of things, because it's not easy. There's no part of this that's easy. There's not any part. Not the judge's part, not the CASA's part, not the caseworker's, not the kid's, sure as not the kid's, not the parent's, the bioparents not the foster parent's. Nothing in this is easy, right? Because we're dealing with broken...

Matthew Darrah (22:21.057)

Broken systems, broken people. I had Robyn on last week with the book, and one of the things that she said kind of hit home was that we were talking about having compassion on the bio-parents, the bio-family, right? And she said, you know, people that are doing great, they don't hurt their kids. mean, they keep growing, you know, the cycle is so cyclical that...

Matthew Darrah (22:50.945)

know, chances are if their kids are coming into foster care, there's a high, I don't know what the number is, but high, high probability that they were in care themselves, right? And so, yeah, there's no part of this that's easy. mean...

Matthew Darrah (23:08.147)

No, and from our agency's perspective, one of the things that we're very excited about is that we are in the process of being T3C, Texas Child Center Care accredited, which is a restructuring of the leveling system and how our families are reimbursed and things like that. one of the, I say that because one of the things that we have developed, people in our office, Tanya Park and Kelsey Vines, and they've developed intentionally

Matthew Darrah (23:37.984)

connected caregiving and it's a training that our staff do and that our families will work through annually and including training to be licensed but it is connecting those.

Matthew Darrah (23:51.872)

relationships and identifying those relationships in our kids lives, the kids that are in care so that we can foster those relationships and really enhance. That's why staying local is so important. You know, if they've had a relationship in a prior placement or previously to coming in care and it's healthy, like as an agency, we want to foster that and help our families to whatever that looks like. You know, we want to do that. So as an agency, we're working really hard to be relational in the work that we do.

Matthew Darrah (24:21.775)

I say it on the podcast all the time, we do better in community, right? Whether it's foster parent to foster parent or caseworker to caseworker.

Matthew Darrah (24:32.781)

Some we just we just do better in community when we're around folks that understand What what in the world we're through and so and that and that's that's that works for the for the kids, too, right? So So I did want to take a second to talk about kids because a lot of people say well I could never foster right so I did want to talk with you guys about Respite care for a second. We'll get to the actual licensing process here in a minute

Matthew Darrah (25:02.735)

Matthew Darrah (25:03.035)

But first of all, what is respite care? Respite care is an intentional break for the families. It's overnight so if they're gonna go on a vacation or a Trip with spouses going on a trip something like that. It allows the children to be in a safe

Matthew Darrah (25:21.401)

Somebody that's been trained we have a whole training process for our respite providers It can be somebody in your family or a friend that's willing to go through that process Or it can be you know, we have some families that we work that we work with Yeah that have fostered in the past and maybe they're not actively fostering but they still want to be available for respite care and so that's a way that the community can be involved to if they're willing to go through the process it's a fingerprinting and training classes but nowhere near as

Matthew Darrah (25:51.168)

as

Matthew Darrah (25:51.238)

much as the licensing process, right? No. No. It's close. Yeah, it is close. Not gonna lie. It's close. trainings, minus like a handful. Yeah. But not quite as... We offer all the trainings on Zoom, or some are self-paced, so we make it accessible. You can hop on when you're able. Yeah, so it's not quite as much as getting licensed, but it is, you know, it's...

Matthew Darrah (26:19.211)

you know, if you're licensed and the kids want to spend the, you're gonna have the kids spend the night with me, you can't just up and do that, Right, there's around that. There's definitely, and so, you know, people, a lot of people say, well, I could never foster, well, here's an option, is doing respite service for foster, licensed foster homes, where the, you know, the simple thing sometimes is,

Matthew Darrah (26:48.877)

Going out of town for a funeral, right? You can't take the kids across state lines. you don't have that time, you have to get permission two weeks in advance to go over state lines. Funeral is not usually two weeks out. so, know, Susie needs to go to Oklahoma for a funeral, know, call the agency, get a respite service person. So respite...

Matthew Darrah (27:15.399)

is kind of like foster care, but not quite. So that's one way that folks can get involved is through that respite. And if you are a foster family with us and you have a placement after three months, you do get access to respite funds. And so A World for Children will reimburse you for it.

Matthew Darrah (27:36.91)

taking that respite care because we want our caregivers to be emotionally healthy and take breaks and get a full night's sleep. And so we really do encourage our families to do that and we make it possible for them to. Yeah, we had a... We did some date nights at some churches. Yeah, those are great. And so one of my best friends, he and his wife, the first date night that they went to...

Matthew Darrah (28:06.197)

So they literally took their kids to the church and dropped them off and they went to the Walmart parking lot nearby and slept.

Matthew Darrah (28:13.933)

I swear to God, that's what they did. sleep, it fixes a lot of things. It does. That's her great I was like, you have got to be kidding me. You're supposed to go on a date or something. He's like, no, we went to sleep, Sometimes that's the reality of foster care. You need sleep sometimes. Uninterrupted sure. God, when Nela first came, she...

Matthew Darrah (28:42.989)

She would just wake up three or four times a night just screaming. She wasn't two. She didn't understand what in the world was going on. And it was scary. It was scary. And waking up in this weird place that I've never been before. Yeah, mean, it's not.

Matthew Darrah (29:00.589)

So yeah, so sleep is important. Uninterrupted sleep is important. So go to a date night and just go to the Walmart parking lot. Take a nap. Put some soft music on. Yeah, I was having him make a video to show to the church to demonstrate the importance of their date night. He didn't have much to report. We went to the Walmart parking lot and went to sleep. Oh man, laughed so hard

Matthew Darrah (29:30.496)

Yeah, yeah, I mean golly Yeah, it's just those breaks are important and so right, you know, whether that be a foster respite Situation or date night or something like that. So yeah, so so talk us through the The actual foster licensing process with you guys. What does that look like? Yeah, so We have it kind of broken down into three different phases but

Matthew Darrah (30:00.077)

The first way to get the process going is reach out to an agency, reach out to us.

Matthew Darrah (30:07.041)

give us a phone call, send us an email. All of our contact information is on our website at awfc.org. There you can choose whatever office you're closest to. We do have 11 offices statewide. But yeah, so we get an inquiry. There's an orientation that is mandatory for anyone interested or wanting to learn more. it's that orientation training. have one weekly, different days, different times of the day.

Matthew Darrah (30:36.975)

but we do hold them weekly. We just had one this morning from 930 to 1030, but it has a lot of great information just, and it's a time for potential foster parents to just ask questions as well. I mean, we have a slideshow we go through, but at the end we always allow time for questions. And so you have to get background checked, fingerprinted, fill out an application.

Matthew Darrah (31:03.947)

So that's gonna be your first phase. Second phase is, of course, doing trainings. We call references. We require seven references. And we call half of them on the phone and just get to know more about the family to see if they're a good fit for foster care. And then the third and final phase is getting a home study done.

Matthew Darrah (31:30.481)

and getting licensed. so we, it sounds pretty basic when I break it down like that, but I mean, it's a lot of work as far as training, getting documentation over for your home, have to get fire inspection, health inspection, all of those things. But yeah, so we, but we try to make it easy. And that's part of my job too, is to walk side by side those families that are.

Matthew Darrah (31:56.012)

going through the licensing process because it can be overwhelming for us that work in it every day. It's like, yeah, of course you need.

Matthew Darrah (32:03.213)

background checks, yeah, you need a health inspection or fire inspection. I have some people, some families that are like, what's a health inspection? who are, like because they don't. you call? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they, and I'm like, you don't know what health, I'm thinking to myself, you don't know what a health inspection is, but I work in this. So that, again, that's part of my job is to walk alongside these families up until they get their home study and then I pass them off to whatever local office they're.

Matthew Darrah (32:30.327)

they're getting licensed through. And so they have someone to ask questions, to call, to text, to email, whatever is most convenient for them. So yeah, that's our licensing process at AWSC. OK. And then what is the average?

Matthew Darrah (32:49.301)

I know it depends, but just the average length of time it takes to get licensed. We say on average six to nine months. We have some that get it done sooner. I had a family not too long ago that did it in under three months. But they were literally taking every class available that month.

Matthew Darrah (33:08.201)

And so, but, then we do have some that take a little bit longer, maybe 10 months, but you don't want to go past that 12 month mark because then all the trainings that you've done are going to be due again, because they're annually, right? So we want to try to get you through it preferably before that year mark so you're not having to just sit and retake trainings over and over. But yeah, we usually say on average six to nine months. And then, so once the, once the,

Matthew Darrah (33:35.722)

Once everything's done and you're licensed, what does it look like after that?

Matthew Darrah (33:39.308)

So I hand them off to the local directors. Yeah, once you're licensed, I get to come to your home or you come to my office and we get to go through all the paperwork and sign some things. And then after that, it is we're watching those placement requests. If I get one and, know, we listen to our families, if their preference is for a certain age range, we're going to do our very best to call them with what they're there. Feel their family is comfortable with because we don't want to push them beyond what they feel they're capable of.

Matthew Darrah (34:09.311)

of handling and so we I'll call them ask tell them what I know about it sometimes we know very very little but we will share that information and then give them

Matthew Darrah (34:21.269)

whatever time they need to say yes or no. If they say yes, we submit that to, we have placement coordinators with A World for Children that our placements go through. So we let them know, they submit our family's home study and information. And then if the family's accepted, kid could be transported that night. Sometimes you have a little more time, it might be a few days if they're able to schedule that. But a lot of times, if it's an emergency placement, can be, you know, within a couple hours.

Matthew Darrah (34:51.183)

Yeah, we had Bob on Talley Bob Talley yes And he was talking about because he had told me the the original Thing that he was told was that the kid hurt his daughter what ended up becoming his you know His adopted daughter was gonna be there at like eight nine o'clock at night, and they were eating dinner at

Matthew Darrah (35:16.097)

Blue Sky, we eating at Blue Sky. And he said, we just sat down together at food. It was gonna be our last time to eat together as a family of five. And then they called and said, we're almost to your house. And so, but yeah, you just don't know. I mean, they could come right away and then they could come, know, we, I think Jennifer took a placement package yesterday that she was being moved up from Lubbock, I think.

Matthew Darrah (35:45.39)

And so we got a few days notice on the referral side that this kiddo was going to be up here

Matthew Darrah (35:51.918)

was going to be here on Tuesday and stuff. So sometimes you might have a few days and sometimes you might have a few minutes. I will say St. Francis has been really great with their placement coordinators and transporters. They've been so nice to work with and they send an email with their ETA and so far the placements that we've had have been pretty right on. So that's nice to have a little bit of a heads up. Yeah. Even if it's just a few hours. So I think we've already said this but

Matthew Darrah (36:21.871)

There are other agencies that you can get licensed through. Different agencies have different kind of.

Matthew Darrah (36:31.341)

Thought processes, maybe culture. Yeah, culture is probably a good way to kind of delineate that. And so I think it's important, and anybody, because I get the question all the time, well, who should I get licensed with? And I tell them, listen, you need to talk to several and figure out which one fits you. Because different agencies have different thought processes, and like the culture.

Matthew Darrah (36:58.893)

thought process there, that descriptor works well. Because they're different, you guys have things that are unique to y'all, and Buckner, Bair some of the other ones, they have different thought processes too. And so I tell folks it makes sense to just have kind of an interview process with the agency and figure out which one.

Matthew Darrah (37:24.301)

which one matches. and you're gonna have us in your home regularly. Our case managers are monthly, almost weekly phone calls or texts. So you wanna trust the person that you are inviting into your space and your private world. We have some hard conversations because parenting is not easy in general and then also with the complication of trauma and all the things that foster care throws at you. Like Davina said earlier, we want

Matthew Darrah (37:54.208)

yeah

Matthew Darrah (37:54.241)

you.

Matthew Darrah (37:54.368)

to look around and find who you click with. Find the right one. mean, there's plenty of Everyone's in it because they want kids to be in safe. Right. Yeah. My biomom, I had said this on an episode before, my biomom said that the reason that we were taken...

Matthew Darrah (38:13.599)

You know, I heard we heard it. Those case workers get a bonus every time they false information. Yeah, the fact checkers needed needed that one. Yeah, you're not you're not you're not you are not in this realm to get rich. mean, there's just whew. Yeah. So no bonus here. No bonus. my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, so other than

Matthew Darrah (38:41.997)

So let's talk a little bit about other ways that they could get involved with it were for children So we talked about kinship. We talked about licensing. What are some other things if they say I like this agency? You know, maybe one day I'm gonna foster blah blah blah. don't know. Maybe I to volunteer What are some things that they might could do like directly with you guys as agency? Yeah, so not only respite but

Matthew Darrah (39:07.307)

just being a babysitter as well. Becoming a certified babysitter. Nothing overnight. Babysitting is anything considered less than 12 hours and no overnight. So becoming a babysitter. And also, just if you personally know a foster family, love on them, door dash them dinner one day.

Matthew Darrah (39:36.462)

Make them a meal and say hey, I want to make your family Dinner this week. What's a good day for y'all? I'll bring out dinner. Just things like that, but also I think a lot of people don't Know what to do. So sending an encouraging note. Yeah, send them a card. Yeah with a little

Matthew Darrah (40:01.313)

gift card to a coffee shop or something, you know, just, hey, I know you guys are in this season of life. This is what y'all are doing. We're here for y'all. We're praying for you. If you can't do anything else, just lift them up in prayer. That goes a long way too. But yeah, just loving on them too.

Matthew Darrah (40:18.349)

things as far as agency-wide, do a lot of cool things for our families. recently, what was it, the beginning of this month, we had our swim party. We rented out the Thompson Park pool just for our agency and our families. Going and handing out snacks or organizing something, a play date.

Matthew Darrah (40:45.741)

for kids to go to, anything like that. We do have like our annual Christmas party. If you don't know what to do, call us up around Christmas like, hey, can I come help wrap Christmas presents or can I be your cleanup crew at a party or something? Just if you wanna help, like volunteer your time. We have things like that that could help and always.

Matthew Darrah (41:11.765)

Donations to well. Yeah. Yeah, the donations are great for our jumpstart funds. We have every family who gets a new placement They get $150 to help with Clothes outside of what you Panhandle orphan care can help with you know, there's always toothbrushes mean, there's just like all kinds of little things or if you have a school-aged kid, you know It can include some of those things We also have a launch camp for teens That every year they get to go this year was a New Braunfels. They had a great week. So our

Matthew Darrah (41:41.662)

Teens can go and do that so you can give in that way. She already mentioned our Christmas party. We're already gearing up for it in the fall. And I love the Christmas party because we include all family members. so when you show up to that party, you're not going to know who's the kid in care, right? Like that's the important piece for us. Like the whole family is involved. Everyone gets to have a little wish list and they get a couple of gifts that they've asked for. So kids are getting pretty excited.

Matthew Darrah (42:11.575)

at that time and then our foster parents also get a gift for them. You know that they can use and go on a date night or something like that. What else is there? We have a foster parent appreciation in the fall. We do a meal or something every year is a little bit different and so people can help out with that. Providing food or donations for those things. so the big thing is if you're interested do you guys have like a

Matthew Darrah (42:40.525)

you know, something, it's a certain person or is there a thing on the website that says get involved? How do they connect with you guys to say I want to do something? Well, you can call our office. can reach us by email. My email is Carriej@AWFC.org. We also have an inquiry.

Matthew Darrah (42:59.949)

Matthew Darrah (43:00.389)

on our website that you can fill out and we'll reach out to you immediately. You can also give electronic donations on our website. There's a whole page for that. we have sweet donors that send in a check once a month for some of these things and those are truly just an encouragement for us. We feel like there's other people that see the work that's going on and giving to that so that our families and kids can really thrive. lots of ways to get involved.

Matthew Darrah (43:29.903)

the ways to get involved. Lots of ways, for sure. Well, okay, so what's next here? Okay, this is a good question. Final thoughts. What keeps you going every day? I will say my coworkers. Yeah. We're an office of eight women, but those eight women are some of my closest friends, honestly.

Matthew Darrah (43:58.988)

We laugh together, cry, literally we cry together. And it's just, I enjoy coming to the office every day because I know I get to see their faces. I mean, because we work in this field and I can't go vent to my best friend who doesn't know this and had this, like she won't understand, right? And so.

Matthew Darrah (44:27.341)

My coworkers are amazing and we sometimes when we just all need a break, we just go in the conference room and play UNO for a minute because we just need to stop what we're doing because it's so much. It's deep things. There's deep things, a lot of emotions that we're dealing with every day in people's lives, quite literally. And so we've built a safe space within our office for each other.

Matthew Darrah (44:56.501)

we understand each other. And we're also different. Like our personalities are so vastly different. Like we could not be more opposite from each other. But I think that's what makes it so beautiful is that we all genuinely like each other. We love each other and we're there for each other. And so I think that's what keeps me passionate and going every day.

Matthew Darrah (45:20.897)

Yeah, that is pretty special. It's a fun place to show up to work. For me, I think back to my internship with my masters, I met a lady who had like 97 children that she had fostered her husband. That is just.

Matthew Darrah (45:38.654)

so inspiring to me that there's people willing to give. I think I had always sort of thought maybe I could be a person like that. Then my house filled up and now I'm like so honored to raise my children, but adding more to my house would not serve them well. And so I feel like this is a way that I can hopefully, I'm.

Matthew Darrah (46:02.547)

new to this work and the recruiting part is challenging because it's hard to talk to somebody into, you know, making space and being a part of this work.

Matthew Darrah (46:15.117)

Children are always gonna need a place to land. man, we keep talking over and over about how amazing our community is. It's amazing to help, but we need homes to take that next step to welcome kids into their home. Do y'all have current numbers on needed banks? For our family? Oh. Oh, no. I don't have this. I get three to four placement requests a day almost. I mean, there's kids.

Matthew Darrah (46:44.525)

Last week there were like three brand new infants which back in the day that was unheard of you had to you know if your family wanted to welcome an infant into your home you might wait months and months right because there were more foster families and We just don't have that right now. And so I would say come jump in it with us You know, we we as a team want to make it as easy as possible For you. It does require work and it does require, you know a sacrifice but yeah the kids

Matthew Darrah (47:14.529)

It is not their fault that they're in that situation. They are the most innocent in our community.

Matthew Darrah (47:22.903)

They're precious. They say silly things and they do have maybe some difficult things because of what they have endured. But healing can take place. And we're here to help facilitate that as a team. So it's a team approach. Just as our office loves to be around each other, like we hope that we can build that culture within our families as well. And our kids that they would feel the same kind of support and love from us. Yeah. man. So

Matthew Darrah (47:52.814)

Trying

Matthew Darrah (47:53.254)

to think of it if there's anything else we haven't is there anything we haven't touched on anything we should talk about I Will say one thing as well Just continuing to brag on my girls and the office but You know some people I've had inquiries that have emailed me and like well why why should we choose your agency? And I will say as far as locally for sure our office

Matthew Darrah (48:21.483)

Like I said earlier, there's eight women in that office. Seven of them have personally fostered and adopted children.

Matthew Darrah (48:29.941)

Only two of us have not done that. But the other two of us, we know what it's like to, my parents adopted my special needs niece, or cousin, when I was in eighth grade. My other coworker, like her family, and I was just talking to her about this the other day. I think it makes our office special because her family even has been, her mother has been the caregiver for her brother. So we all know what it's like to have someone in our home that,

Matthew Darrah (48:58.125)

wasn't originally part of our immediate family unit. And so that right there speaks volumes, I think, because when I was a case manager and I had foster families that would say, like...

Matthew Darrah (49:13.485)

this situation is going on with our kiddo, we don't know what to do. like, well, I don't know either. I've never had a kid. I've never fostered, know, like I've never adopted. All I had to do was go to the office. I'd say, hey, guys, I need to pick your brain. This is what's happening. What do you all recommend? And like, I'm getting so much information from all of them. And so I think that's one thing that makes our Amarillo AWFC office so special is that we have women there who have like

Matthew Darrah (49:41.024)

Yes, we have our degrees or whatever, but they also have that personal experience and they have lived it and they know what it's like. And so they give they can give you input on what to do and like real life experience. And they they bring that to the table with with with what's the word they like.

Matthew Darrah (50:05.751)

There's some compassion behind it. When we have to ask you, like, need you to have this thing turned in by, you know, this date. There's compassion behind it. Yeah, there's compassion behind We've done that. Why? Because they've done it. Right. You know, and so it's I think that's one thing that makes our office very, very special is that we have all of us there know what it's like to care for other, you know, vulnerable populations.

Matthew Darrah (50:31.341)

Yeah, it's yeah, I wanted to add that. I love it. I love it. got anything? Yeah, there's a couple things. First, I want everyone to know that we serve all of Region 1. So we have a lot of families in Amarillo and Canyon, but we also have family in Lubbock. We have family working in Borger. We've had families, you know, far up north. So we're willing to come where you're willing to serve. And so know that that we can come to you and get this process. have all of our trainings are online and so it's accessible. Yeah.

Matthew Darrah (51:01.295)

Number two, if you want me to come have a table at your event or speak at your church, National Adoption Day is in November. This is kind of a season that we look forward to, so it might be a good opportunity. I'd love to come share with you about our work and what we do and see how we can partner together. Okay, what's your office phone number? 806-358-9117.

Matthew Darrah (51:27.725)

Okay, we'll put that down in the show notes. We'll put awfc.org down there as well and and so Man I I just appreciate your agency and and and the work that you guys do and And for coming on today kind of hopefully spelling it out with the process

Matthew Darrah (51:56.834)

Looks like there's folks out there that are.

Matthew Darrah (51:59.532)

Curious and for coming in at the last moment. I had multiple cancellations like right before I'm going out of town Okay, do y'all know have y'all seen the Facebook page the Feathered Nest blog? Yes, I have not so she was supposed to be here on Monday I know but her husband had a yeah Robyn last week and and and she was supposed to be on Monday, but her husband

Matthew Darrah (52:29.475)

and ended up in the hospital. So we had to reschedule that one. terrible. I know, I know, but her- It'll happen. my gosh, her, I don't, she writes. That girl, she has a way with words that really-

Matthew Darrah (52:46.549)

makes you understand and feel the foster care journey, right? I don't know how else to say that. She just has this gifting to be able to really communicate what it's like. so anyways, I was super excited to have her on and then we had to reschedule. But anyways, I appreciate you guys being flexible and coming in and short notice and helping me fill in the schedule. I've been wanting to have you guys on for a while.

Matthew Darrah (53:14.765)

And so I appreciate you guys coming so much, Demina and Jessica, thank you. Hey, I wanted to say thank you to Panhandle Orphan Care Network and all the other just like wraparound nonprofits right now that are doing some amazing work. I just came from Leanne LeFever's adoption class, post adoption work that they're doing through the Heart Gallery.

Matthew Darrah (53:39.885)

Amarillo Angels, Fostering Hope, know, GAFPA, they're doing some amazing things. as an area director, it's really nice to be able to say like, there's all these people that are rooting for our kids to thrive. And so we thank you for that. Yeah, absolutely. We are. You know, God has been so good and we love doing our placement packages. And it's sad. Every once in a while, I just tell my

Matthew Darrah (54:07.245)

I told Jennifer, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna take this one. Because I mean, I started this thing to do that thing, and now I'm gonna do that thing. I have to do all these other things. Like, who wants to do financial reports? Like, I wanna go hang out with some kiddos, know, get some toys and stuff, you know? And so, but yeah, so I do. I appreciate everything that you ladies do and for coming on. Guys, thank you for tuning in. Thank you again to Morgan over at Ennis Inspections.

Matthew Darrah (54:36.429)

We as we mentioned we do this thing called a placement package for kiddos when they're coming into foster care and so every kid gets a suitcase a Bible a teddy bear a book a toy and a blanket and then whatever else they need and so this can be diapers and clothes and car seats and high chairs and you name it if kiddos need it We've we've done it at some point and so we can't do that Without support and so we ask folks to be a placement package partner

Matthew Darrah (55:03.917)

That is a monthly donation that just comes out of your checking account. You don't have to think about it $100 a month buys us all the clothes we need for one placement package $50 buys us the case of diapers and $10 a month buys us an outfit and so if you're interested Down the show notes. There'll be a link to our website panhandleorphan.org We've got our fundraiser coming up trade wars. It's October 11th

Matthew Darrah (55:30.446)

And so we'll have information on that down in the show notes below. Thanks for tuning in and thank you guys for coming. We'll catch y'all later. All right, perfect. Thank you.