TESTIMONIALS
Ashley Honeycutt
Associate Social Services Specialist
“While many case workers, relatives, and foster parents provide as much as they can for foster youth’s needs, sometimes these kids miss out on the “nice-to-haves” and the “wouldn’t-it-be-greats”. For a lot of kids in care, these things might be as simple as the ability to participate in Scouts, an after school sport, a cooking class, or the experience of picking out their own prom outfits. Sometimes a “nice-to-have” is a co-parenting app subscription to ensure that kids whose care is split between biological and foster families is as seamless and conflict free as possible. A “wouldn’t-it-be-great” might be the opportunity for separated foster siblings to spend the day at an amusement park, go to their favorite restaurant, or even just have the ability to be in the same place as one another. When you support this humanitarian foundation, you offer your support to kids and send the message that we all want so much more for them than the minimum in terms of their care. Many children in foster care have lived much of or all of their lives just coping, and every request to Harper’s Warrior Fund that can be granted gives kids in need an opportunity to flourish and thrive, instead of just survive.”
Tiana Griffin, MSW
Pro Bono Program Specialist
“When most people think of foster care, they typically assume that a child will have access to everything they need and more since the state is acting as their “parent”. I’ve been working at CASA for almost 5 years now, and this couldn’t be further from the truth. People tend to think that the child welfare system is supposed to have all the means to care for a child as if they were their parent(s), but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
We often have kids who need a certain type of diagnostic testing that isn’t covered by insurance and costs thousands of dollars. Maintenance payments that placement providers receive for taking care of a child are not much, and they can’t afford to pay for it out of pocket. The state can’t afford it either, so then the family support team who’s working with the family is scrambling to figure out how to get this kid what they need. At the same time, our kids want to do typical kid things, like participate in extracurricular activities, and we fully support that. However, some extracurricular activities can incur costs, like sporting equipment, so we’re back to the issue of figuring out how to fund these activities.
Harper’s Warrior Fund noticed the need and has graciously decided to do what they can to meet it. Because of their commitment, our kids will be able to receive the services and resources they need, whether it’s equine therapy or soccer cleats. Harper’s Warrior Fund is so crucial for our kids, and we’re so grateful for the work they’re doing in this system.”