Guiding Harbor by Jennifer Trotter

Just imagine. You are at work one day and someone comes to you and says you can’t go home. You are going to live with another family not too far from here. That will also mean that you can’t work here anymore, but you’ll get another job, so it will be ok. No, I don’t have your clothes, but I’ll bring you some in a couple of days. No, you can’t speak to your family right now, I’m setting up a time for that in a few days.
Yes, this is an oversimplified and somewhat silly comparison to foster care. It’s hard to paint a picture of what being removed from your family feels like. It depends on so many variables. What was the child’s age at the time of removal, do siblings get to be together, is the child placed with someone they know, what time of day did the removal take place?
For the children who are removed, this is often devastating regardless of the reasons that led to the removal. Kids are not only taken from the harmful situation, but they are often removed from their schools, neighborhood, friends, toys, and even siblings. If there are no relatives to care for them, they are placed with people they may not know. This would be incredibly stressful for anyone.
Kids are left with complex feelings of loss and longing. They may be angry with their parents or aligned with them. Usually, it’s both. Foster parents, who are excited to get to care for a child in need, can feel surprised or disappointed when they are not appreciative. Foster Care is not for the weak. In fact, the strongest people I have ever known I have met through the foster care system. This applies to foster parents, relatives, birth families and children.
Foster care is a temporary living situation for children whose parents cannot take care of them. The Court makes the ultimate decision about whether a child should be removed. Once that decision is made, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) places that child with an agency like Guiding Harbor.
As a provider of foster care services, Guiding Harbor is responsible for supporting the birth family while they work on getting their children back, the relative caregivers or foster parents while they care for the child, and the youth who was removed.
The goal is for children to reunify with their families whenever safely possible. This can take between 6 months to 2 years for most families to demonstrate to the Court that they can safely parent their children. Our case workers help connect birth parents to resources like housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and parenting classes.
Ultimately, safety and stability for kids is the most important. Achieving permanency can take several forms, including:
1. Reunification: Returning a child to their birth family after the resolution of issues that led to their removal.
2. Adoption: Providing a permanent family for a child through legal adoption.
3. Guardianship: Placing the child in the legal custody of a guardian who takes on the responsibilities of parenting without adoption.
Permanency is a critical aspect of ensuring the well-being of children, helping them develop lifelong relationships and a sense of belonging. The quicker permanence can be established, the better the outcomes are for kids.
Creative problem solving is one aspect of service delivery. We are paid by the state of Michigan to provide foster care services, but it’s not enough for us to solve problems as quickly as we’d like. We rely on fundraising to make ourselves nimbler and more prepared to respond quickly to the needs of our families.
We also think it’s important to celebrate our successes, spread the word about our services, and enjoy a night out. On Nov. 9, Guiding Harbor will host our 39th annual auction, The Greatest Gala on Earth. It will be held at the Baronette Renaissance hotel in Novi. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets include dinner, dessert, open bar, silent auction, and entertainment by Comedic Magician, Cameron Zvara. For more information, please visit https://guidingharbor.org/events/ .