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When we moved to Charlotte in 2017, we attended a Foster Village Charlotte informational meeting and learned that there are close to 600 kids in the foster care system just in our area. We know that having a strong, vibrant, healthy foster care system is crucial for these children, their parents, and our community. I joined the Foster Village Charlotte board in 2023 and I am continually blown away by the amazing work this organization is doing to bring families together. Foster Village Charlotte is a community beyond the system. As the organization’s director of programs, Santoro, 38, leads program development, communication, and fundraising.
The Foster Village family is growing!
It will be imperative for us to set healthy guidelines for eligibility and liability. Creating pathways for earned revenue including curriculum design and the use of the FVC Resource Centers on off-hours for like minded individuals and organizations. FVC is interested in developing earned revenue pathways that diversify funding and allow us to be an expert in the field. Knowledge of copywriting curriculum, becoming accredited to provide CEU credits to educators and therapists, and setting up facility terms and agreements are all areas of future growth within the organization. Over the next several months, this family comes back to the FVC Resource Center for trauma-informed trainings, foster family gatherings, family attachment and connection classes, and therapy-led support groups.
Empower generations of vulnerable families to overcome adversity.
We need support in the sourcing and hiring process but also in the knowledge of when to grow positions into full time and what is sustainable and livable. An active board leading this initiative is an area of growth for us. Having clarity in budgeting and market-value rates of positions is a resource need. In the summer of 2022, FVC expanded to two facilities. This expansion allows us to deepen our work with our program in development and is central to our strategic plans for the next three years.
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They stop by the Resource Center and are greeted by FVC’s Program Coordinator. The child plays in the trauma-informed playroom and assists their new caregiver in choosing the items they want to go into their Welcome Pack. The foster family learns of additional trainings and events that will help them adjust to their new reality and engage further in the village of the foster community. Most families foster for less than a year, citing burnout and lack of support as the reason they stop. At the same time, 85% of people who are not foster parents say they care about vulnerable children and want to help. With the launch of Project SOOTHe in 2020, we addressed the critical lack of services and long therapy waitlists.
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Life Lessons: Becky Santoro of Foster Village
But when I left teaching, a piece of me ached to be near children and families in crisis, if only to be a safe person for a small period of time. I was a new mom of two with a simple life, but I was feeling removed from thinking about hard things, and I didn’t like that feeling. Recognizing the profound impact of isolation on foster parents, we’ve actively worked to bridge the gap between caregivers and support systems. By fostering a community where foster and kinship parents can connect and share experiences, we've significantly reduced feelings of solitude and burnout. The efforts culminated in establishing a resource center in 2019, funded by a SEED20 Funding pitch competition, which now serves as a hub for gatherings, support groups, and resource distribution. If you’re not fostering, it can be hard to understand all the grief, loss, love, heartache, and anger that go with it.
Meeting needs. Bringing dignity to the system.
Five years ago, shortly after she welcomed her first foster child, Santoro began to regularly meet three other foster parents at a playground. They told her they lacked resources and felt overwhelmed. Santoro envisioned an organization to support foster caregivers, and by the time she welcomed her second foster child, Santoro and the three other parents—Molly Zalewski, Sloan Crawford, and Traci Prillaman—had co-founded Foster Village.
Foster Village is a “village of villages,” with locations all around the country. Our goal is to be in every community where there is a need. Find the location nearest you to discover how you can get involved. The Village Partner Community creates pathways of consistency, allowing Foster Village Charlotte to plan forward with vision and confidence for sustainability and scalability. We invite you to become part of this transformative journey.
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To achieve program goals, we will need a continued strong partnership with Mecklenburg County DSS which may also include a court program that will help us pilot phase 2 of the program. In addition, we also need strong leadership with lived experience as a birth family to ensure we are being intentional and thoughtful in our program design. This program expansion would also include the need for a new staff member and additional oversight and navigating to community resources that extend beyond the mission of FVC to help families sustain permanency. Reunifying families is a vulnerable population but there are risks involved including safety for our team and the children we serve.
Inside Access
You play, show them around, and blow out the candles with so many adults that are here just for you. The team launched Foster the Movement, a fundraising campaign that asked foster families, volunteers and donors to share their stories on social media and ask for support from friends and family. The Village overwhelmingly responded, raising more than $80,000 to help continue the services that had supported many of them so well.
The child is familiar with the people at the center and loves playing in the backyard. As foster parents engage in professional services and programming, they experience a safe space for their emotional needs to be met and connection with other foster families. And the ripple effect of stabilizing and equipping the foster family directly impacts the child.
Work to grow part-time staff roles into full-time roles, increasing FVC's capacity for program implementation, fund development and operational fidelity. FVC recognizes that capacity-building requires leadership at the helm. We have operated on a small scale team with limited compensation for co-directors so that we could increase the number of staff on our team in the future.
One hour after that call, we got another call about a child who needed a home. Your support gives vulnerable children and families the village of support they need to thrive. Foster Village bridges this gap between foster families and caregivers and those who want to help, meeting practical needs and providing holistic support beyond the system. As children and caregivers navigate a messy child welfare system, our volunteers help bridge gaps and remind families that they are not alone through the ups and downs of foster care.
All kids experience some trauma when they enter the foster care system. And people don’t always realize that even though we “sign up for this” as foster parents, it’s hard. As Foster Village Charlotte continues to evolve, our commitment to these children and families remains unwavering. We are dedicated to expanding our services, refining our programs, and continuing our advocacy to ensure every child and caregiver in the foster care system receives the support and dignity they deserve.
Foster Village operates on an annual budget of about $350,000, 70% of which comes from individual donations. It occupies a small house in the Oakhurst neighborhood in southeast Charlotte, but Santoro hopes she can raise enough money for a new resource center by the end of 2023. A new center would allow for more comfortable interactions between children and caregivers at sensitive and emotionally charged times, like when foster children reunite with their birth families. It is this ‘village,’ alongside a real community need that has fueled Foster Village’s momentum.
The results speak volumes, with FVC successfully launching their board recruitment plan, welcoming two new board members, and initiating a board chair succession plan as their founding chair prepares for a transition in the near future. Meanwhile, I was feeling enriched by my relationship with my foster child’s biological father. He visited with her and brought a new doll every week.
Helping foster families and children by creating a village of support in the Charlotte area. You pick up a phone call in the middle of a work day to learn that a child needs you to open your home. You must quickly evaluate your life and decide whether to accept the placement with limited information about the child and the trauma they’ve experienced. You’re asked to come get the child immediately, unsure of whether the child will be with you 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 years. Even with the limited information, you say yes and go to meet the child. You’re rooting for the parents, but also knowing you’re next in line.
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