Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: In today's episode, we will be talking about how to volunteer with Utah Foster Care. We have Melina Moore, who is the volunteer services manager, who will be joining us and telling us all the different ways that individuals and companies can get involved around the state of Utah.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: This is Fostering Conversations with Utah Foster Care, where we have insightful conversations about parenting for bio foster, adoptive or blended families to better understand the experience, experiences we all face as families.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: Welcome to Fostering Conversations. I'm Amy Smith, your host. And today we have Tammy Carson, who is the director of community volunteers at Utah Foster Care, as our co host.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: Thank you for having me on, Amy. I always love being here and having these great conversations.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Yes, we love having you. So thank you for your time.
Today we're going to be talking about different ways to volunteer with Utah Foster Care, and we have Melina Moore, who is the volunteer services manager, and she is going to tell us all the wonderful things that you can do to be involved, not as a foster parent, but as a volunteer supporting the foster care program and foster families around the state of Utah. So, Melina, will you introduce yourself and thank you for being with us today.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Oh, thanks for having me. Yeah. My name is Melina. I am a foster. Adoptive parent. Parent. I've been a foster parent for a little over eight years, and I have seven amazing kids in a very wide age range. I love working at Utah Foster Care because it's something that I'm very passionate about. I love working with the kids, and the volunteers are just amazing in what they do to provide support.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Well, I would love, Melina, if you would give us a little history of the volunteer program at Utah Foster Care for context. I've been working here for six and a half years, and for the first several years I was here, we didn't know necessarily what to do with volunteers. We had a few ideas. We had a couple of big events. But then I know that is it three years ago that you started in this?
[00:02:00] Speaker B: About two and a half. Yeah.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: Okay. And you were just handed an idea and then you built this beautiful program from it. So can you just briefly share with us a history of how that's grown?
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So when I first started, we had just had a panel of foster parents come and talk to them about what some of their biggest needs were.
And the two biggest things that came up in that conversation were connection and childcare. When foster parents bring children into their home, it makes it harder to find childcare because they've got more kids and often kids who may have some behaviors that can be challenging for people that understand. So that childcare piece and then connection. Anytime we're involved in something, having others who really get it is vitally important.
So connection between foster parents, connection between kids who are involved in the system. Those were my two main goals as we started building this program, was to find ways for foster parents and children to be able to connect with each other and give foster parents a little break as they needed that.
So it started with our Kids nights out, which has been just a volunteer and family favorite. It provides childcare for the foster families, and the kids love it. They come, they call them the kids parties. Some of the kids do. And it's been great. It's grown. Over the past two and a half years, we've had many more volunteers join the program. And it's amazing how all of the amazing things that have come from it and the connections and breaks that the foster parents have had. So I really feel like those goals have been achieved and we are continuing to work on them.
Yeah.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: And the program has grown so much. I was probably working at Utah Foster Care when this program was really just starting. And I remember the Kids Nights out. You were running them. You were driving all over the state to, like, be the person who's, like, watching the kids and making sure. And now it's like, we have so many volunteers across the entire state that I don't think you're attending all of them anymore, which is how it should be.
Grateful for that.
So will you just kind of share, like, the vitalness and the importance of these volunteers? Like, why do we need so many volunteers across the state?
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So a big part of what we do at Utah Foster Care is supporting the foster families. But we are a small staff of a nonprofit organization, and we only have so many hours in our days. Foster parents need support. It's been shown that somewhere between 30 and 50% of foster parents quit in the first year of fostering. And one of the biggest reasons for that is lack of support.
So anytime we can support them, buoy them up. It gives them an opportunity to continue fostering because they feel like they have that support system behind them.
Just in the time since we started this program, we've had well over 10,000 hours given to us by volunteers. That's amazing. There's no way that our little staff could do that much foster families. So that's why our volunteers are so vital, is they help provide the support so that foster families can continue fostering and providing safe homes for these kids. We couldn't do this without them.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: So good. It's so beautiful. Melina and I had to turn in some numbers yesterday and we were looking at those numbers just for fiscal year 25 of 1500 plus children who were served by volunteers providing child care at.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: One of our events.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: It's amazing. So, so what are some other opportunities that volunteers around the state can do with Utah foster care in addition to these kids night out?
[00:05:35] Speaker B: So we have a variety of things. Our service Saturdays are fun. We get an opportunity to go and serve at a foster family's home. This can be doing yard work, painting. We've even had volunteers go in and fix drywall for foster families. And it just once again, caring for kids who have experienced trauma takes added time. These kids have additional needs. And so anytime that support can be wrapped around foster families, it's important event support. We have a 5k coming up in September which I'm excited about. So we'll need volunteers there that are helping us run the 5k and also run the 5k.
So yeah, we have events like that around the state. There's a color of the town purple that's coming coming up in the Uinto Basin that's going to be supported by volunteers.
Cluster support. This is a big one that I think helps with the connection foster families have to continue their education to keep their license. So every year for a couple they need 16 hours. I think it is of ongoing education. And with that some of those are done at what we call cluster meetings, cluster support groups and things like that. And so we have volunteers who will come and provide childcare for those or help in other ways for those cluster meetings. Which makes it once again so foster parents can continue fostering and and get the training that they need to be the best supports they can for these kids. Donations is another one. We have amazing people who will make handmade quilts to donate to kids in care. And I love, I've seen some pretty amazing work for these kids and that's something that people can even do on their own time. It may not be directly in our offices, but they can do on their own time that they can then donate. That can be kits as well. We have needs for what we call connection kits, which is something that somebody can put together that gives families an opportunity to connect. So that can be one of my favorites was the gingerbread houses. We got to have those as a foster family and it was so great because as I mentioned, we have a wide range of ages in my house. So everyone from my 20 something year olds to my then 2 year old were putting together gingerbread houses and it was so awesome to have that and know that an organization had donated those so that we could have that experience together. So I really loved those moments and those connection kits. So there's really a variety of ways and then another one and this is a different thing. But the training and the reason I mentioned that is because we have an in person training that we do called Caring for Children. And it's been so awesome watching the community really learn about how trauma affects kids.
Because then there are that many more people in our community that understand our children and how huge is that. Even if they never get an opportunity to be a foster parent or even volunteer at one of our events, they are in the community understanding children who have experienced trauma. Yeah, those are the biggest things I wanted to touch base on. We also have a Care Communities program that Tammy is over, but I know you guys are going to cover that in the future. It's a great way though for organizations in particular to get involved with supporting foster families.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: I would love to. You brought it up a little bit. But the training, I think it's really important for listeners and people who aren't familiar with how the volunteer program works, but to know that there is training, it's required.
So what is this training? Why is it required? I think it might also be important for listeners to know that as foster families, we can't have the kids that we're caring for just watched by anybody. We can't just like drop them off to the normal babysitter. Like they have to be, they have to be background check, they have to go through. So that's why childcare, Because I think a lot of people will be like, why the heck is it so hard to get childcare? It's because we have parameters as foster parents of who can watch our children. So will you talk a little bit about like what the training is and why that's so important for the volunteers to have that training? You touched on it a bit, but maybe just a little bit deeper.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: Yes, of course. So for every volunteer that wants to spend time with Utah Foster Care as a volunteer, they have a, an online training process. And it's really simple. We've tried to make it as convenient as possible. So there is a video to watch that is done by our amazing director of education, Liz, and she talks about how trauma affects kids. And some of the things that we can do when we're interacting with kids is to help them, to make them feel safe, to make sure that we are Interacting in a way that is going to bring positive connections and positive experiences for the kids. We also have some trauma tips just that people can read on there of again, ways to understand and to work with children.
There's also a waiver and a confidentiality agreement. Confidentiality is huge. These kids stories are their own and we don't want them being shared outside of our organization. And so everyone who volunteers with us, we ask them to keep any information that they learn confidential after they have taken those steps. We also have an orientation that's available that is just a half an hour. Again, it's virtual so they can join from anywhere. And we just talk about some of the opportunities and the why. Some of these things we're talking about today, the why behind it and ways they can get involved. And sometimes it's been fun because we've had volunteers say, oh wait, I could do this. So we have a volunteer who started a pottery night program for teens. And so we have kids that come into the office and create their own ceramics. So on that note, sometimes during this training process, people will learn a little bit more. We do get some of our volunteers background checked, not all of them. There is a cost associated. And again, being a nonprofit, we can't do it for everybody. But there are always at a minimum two volunteer background check volunteers at our activities where child care is being provided and everyone is in the same room.
And so we have that level of protection there for everybody involved. In addition to that, we have the caring for children training that I mentioned and that is based on the principles of TBRi, which I won't get into right now, but it's very again based in connection.
And so it helps volunteers learn how to connect with kids. And this can be volunteers who are Utah foster care volunteers or family members of foster families who are working toward understanding and being able to support the families. So yeah, the training is huge.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: Yeah, it really is. And I think I'm like you say, I wish everyone could have it right so that people were just a little more informed. So I love that. That's awesome.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: Absolutely, I agree. And you put a little plug in for the care community program, which I'm really grateful for. We've done a podcast about that in the past and we've been in the pilot phase for the last two years with that program. It's just been a successful and beautiful pilot and we'll be launching the full program.
So just know that there's more to come about that. But if you're an individual or organization and you Want to volunteer in any way, you go to our website and you can inquire. An easy one to remember is mycarecommunity.com and if we talk about care community, it's not quite the right fit to build a team of people to support a foster family. We're going to connect you with other volunteer opportunities that are just as important and just as needed. Melina, tell us about where there are volunteer coordinators in the state that people can reach out to.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: Yes. So we have them across the state. We have offices in ogden, Murray, Orem, St. George, and. And a few in the eastern part of the state. One of those is in Vernal, and there are volunteer coordinators in every one of those areas. So really, across the board, no matter where you are, we can likely find an opportunity for you to volunteer and support foster families in your area.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: That was like a trick question. We just like put that on you.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Name all the offices right now, right?
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, no.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Very impressive. Some of the things I know when I was working there and as a foster parent, I've loved to see the variety of things that people can do. We've talked a lot about what individuals can do. But will you talk about maybe some of the companies and what they have done that if other companies are like, hey, our employees could do that, or we have the space for that. Could you just touch on what bigger organizations besides just individuals could do?
[00:14:01] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. We've had some amazing partners that have supported us. One in Utah county, they have a space and a big gym that's part of their company and they allow us to use it for our kids nights out. And I can't tell you how awesome that is because, let's be real, kids have a lot of energy. And so when they come to these kids nights out and there's this huge gym that they can run and play tag and play basketball and pickleball and all of these things in it, they get their energy out. And so not only are the parents getting a break, but, man, when their kids get home, they're worn out for the day. And it's awesome.
So that's been great. And they've also donated the food for our kids nights out and crafts and things for the kids to do. So that's been huge. Even if you don't have a huge space, there are other things that you can do. We've had organizations provide lunch where we've had a mindfulness for moms. Foster moms come together, they get to have lunch with each other and do some sort of mindfulness activity, so yoga or learning mindful breathing, things like that. So helping our foster parents once again get some connection and a way to give some self care. And then volunteers will also provide juncture for those events from the organization. So that's been an awesome one as well.
Let's see our service Saturdays. We've had organizations who have come together to. To wrap around a foster family that maybe needs a project done in their yard or something like that. So really most of the opportunities can be done on a larger scale or a smaller scale with organizations, depending on what is available. But yeah, we love when organizations get involved. It's huge.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: And I love when organizations come to you guys and they have like this idea. Like I remember when I was working there, this organization came, they're like, we want to take a bunch of kids to Phatgets. And I was like, okay. So they had all these employees come and they just played and paid for all the arcades, all the bowling.
We would have thought of that idea. So I love when organizations are like, hey, we want to do this, how do we make it happen? Okay, let's make it happen. So I love that aspect of things too.
[00:16:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. And on a personal note, that organization continues to do those at Fat Cats. And some of my kids were able to go, and I can't tell you how huge that was because I can't take my kids bowling by myself. It would be a disaster.
So having so many volunteers and adults there who were keeping an eye on them and who were supporting them in that activity was awesome. And my kids were so excited when they came home. So, yeah, it really, it's amazing.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: I love that both of you have, as foster and adoptive parents have benefited from this volunteer program and companies stepping forward into the space. I love that you can share those stories about how your own children have been blessed by this. So it's so good. There's such a variety in what you've created, Melina. And your ability to say yes and to be curious and to figure out a solution and a way forward is so beautiful. I would love to hear some of your favorite volunteer stories that maybe you can share without breaking confidentiality.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:17:02] Speaker C: About how interactions between community members and children or the foster parents have been meaningful that you've seen.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Man, this is one of my favorite parts is just watching the magic happens when volunteers are supporting foster families. And probably the biggest is going back to that connection piece. So we have kids that will come to a Kids night out, for example, and be like, where's the balloon man? Because this is a volunteer, a teenage boy, mind you, who has made balloon animals at these kids nights out events. And the kids come and are so excited and looking for him because he just made the last time an awesome experience for them. So again, they're making connections with healthy people in their lives, healthy adults, and in this case, teens who are able to provide one more safe person, one more safe experience at. We have a foster family camp and we utilize volunteers for that. To be a buddy at the camp for the kids for about three hours, two and a half hours. And last year at that camp, so many of the kids were, were telling our director of operations like, oh, my buddy was the favorite, my favorite part of camp. They just loved those interactions with these fun, caring adults. We had parents who have come and said, okay, we've never left our kids with anybody. I'm not sure how they're going to do. And the relief that you can see on their face when they walk away like, oh my gosh, we don't have kids with us for the first time in months. And it's so awesome to see.
We've had volunteers doing push up contests and planking contests and arm wrestling with the kids and with these like preteen boys. That's been amazing because again, that energy that they have and the kids just love it and they soak up that attention and the care that's being given to them. We've had volunteers come up with really creative ways to help kids who maybe were struggling. There was a volunteer down in Utah county again who there was a child who was struggling and this volunteer on their own, after going through some of the training and kind of getting a better idea of how to help kids, said, hey, will you help me break down these pizza boxes? Because they'd had pizza that night. And so the kid took it on and maybe he was angry and the boxes might have been getting ripped pretty hard at first, but by the time they were done breaking down those pizza boxes into very tiny pieces, the kid was doing so much better. And how awesome that this volunteer was able to provide that for the child.
In a sense, safe, accepting, calm way that was able to help that child feel more regulated and safe. And so the kid was able to stay at the activity, which maybe wouldn't have happened without that volunteer.
Man, just so many things. Kids making connections. There were two preteen boys that came to one of our events and they, you could tell they were uncomfortable. They were looking at all the little kids going, man, I don't really want to be here.
But the volunteers took them under their wings and played games with them and made crafts with them. And by the end of the night, one of the kids dads came to pick him up a little early because he was worried when he dropped his foster son off that he was not going to be doing well. But the kiddo didn't want to leave. He was like, no, I'm still playing, like. And so at that night, the foster parents exchanged phone numbers so the kids could get together. So really creating connections for again, both kids and volunteers and then making opportunities for those parents. So those are my biggest things is I love seeing the connections that are. Because I think we've learned that connection really does create healing. And it's one more opportunity for these kids to have a healing moment in their lives.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: Something that I love too, is when I was more heavily involved when I was working there, is seeing the repeat volunteers. Like, I remember the one guy down here in Utah county, he was at every event.
[00:20:47] Speaker C: He probably still is.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: He would always bring his friends, like, get more people to. He's just this young, cute college student who's just like, there to give back to the community. And I'm like, people are so amazing. And then the big company down here that does the kids night out, like the woman that runs that knows all those kids names, she would constantly be like, oh, yeah, so and so. And I'm like, huh? As if, like, I know every child in care.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: I do not.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: She just, she knew these kids. And I just, I love that, that like, people. People are willing and wanting to also have those connections. Like our volunteers also want those connections and they want to know these kids and they want them to come back every month or however often the event is. And I. I think that's really cool. It's not. People don't volunteer one time and then you never see them again. They are coming back because they love getting to give back in such a neat way. In such a tangible and like, useful way, too.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. It's amazing. And I love getting to know our volunteers and understanding their why. I mean, we have a lot of volunteers who come because they want to be foster parents but maybe aren't ready yet. Right? Or maybe their kids are all grown and out of the house and they're like, man, we want to give back in some way. Maybe they're a college student who needs to get volunteer hours in. There are so many reasons why, but they do. They keep coming back because they love it and it's been amazing to watch. Truly.
[00:22:09] Speaker C: Yeah, it's beautiful. You've created something beautiful. Your volunteer coordinators around the state are doing a beautiful job of engaging everyone. We know that Utah is number one, I think in the nation for volunteerism, if not number one. We're high up there. We just are in a unique situation with a lot of people who are community minded and who want to strengthen their communities. Whether they're part of a faith community or not, they feel that way and it's beautiful to see that happening here.
So what are the steps? If someone is listening and they're touched and they want to do something, what do they do? What do they do next?
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Well, the easiest way is to go to our website, so utahfostercare.org and then under get involved volunteers. So right there you can see the variety of opportunities that we have and let us know what you're interested in because maybe some people want to do the kids nights out and other people are like, no, that doesn't work for me but man, I would love to go do yard work at a foster family's home or I want to help out at event. So you can tell let us know what it is you're interested in, put in your information and that automatically puts you on our email list. So when we have an event coming up, we will send out an email. We send them out usually once or twice a month, so not super frequently. But that gives you the opportunity to say, hey, yeah, that one works for me. And to sign up. And most of our signups are through eventbrite, so we make it as simple as possible.
You can also reach out to your local volunteer coordinator if you have certain questions or ideas in mind. As we've talked about, there are fun, unique ways that sometimes we can make it work with volunteers. But we're happy to talk through that process and excited to have volunteers on our team. They really do make such a huge difference. When we talk about the number of hours they've given, it just it can't be duplicated by our staff. So thank you.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: I actually don't know the answer to this question, but how old do you have to be to volunteer with Utah foster care?
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Ah, good question. So the answer is. It depends. Okay. We typically say 16 and up.
If you're on your own. We have amazing teenagers who have come and volunteered with us and I honestly love them. We've had national honor societies or like a soccer team. It's been awesome.
In general, if kids are 14 and up, that can come with a Parent or guardian. Those are for most of our opportunities. There are opportunities though where kids of any age can come. So we've had seven year olds come and help out a service Saturday and it was so great. They're weeding and helping this family and how cool is it a child that young is able to start that volunteer process in their life already?
[00:24:47] Speaker A: As long as a parent is with.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: Oh, yes, please. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: Let's not pawn our children off to property. We're already up for 400 children. Okay. We don't need any more.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: No, for sure. So, yeah, opportunities where we're putting donations together or helping serve a foster family, as long as they're a parent or guardian with them, then we can have younger children. So again, it depends on the opportunity. But we love all ages.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Love that. That's so awesome. I think that's like really a great way in the community to give back for families like, come by yourself, come with your whole family, but find what fits into your schedule and your ability and come give back in a really cool way.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: So I love that.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Thank you, Melina.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Thank you, Amy. Appreciate it.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And thank you, Tammy, for joining us as a co host today. We always love having you.
[00:25:37] Speaker C: Well, thank you for letting me join. It was fun and I love listening to Melina talk about this program.
She has created something beautiful. I keep saying that, but it truly is. And her passion and love for this flows to her volunteer coordinators around the state and they have that same passion and love for this. So it's amazing and it's so cool.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: How rapidly it has grown out of necessity and I love that. So that's really cool. So thank you guys.
Well, if you want to become a foster parent, we always need you there. But if you can't be a foster parent, volunteering is also amazing and we need so many of those as well. So if you are interested in learning more, head over to our website, utah foster care.org thanks for joining us.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: This has been fostering conversations with Utah Foster Care. Thank you for joining us. For more information, go to utahfostercare.org we'll see you next time.
