SARASOTA – They’re building a brighter future in foster care. All Star Children’s Foundation’s finally opens its doors to a state-of-the-art clinical building in Sarasota.
“A lot of families involved in the system have experienced neglectful circumstances, physical abuse, sexual abuse, parental substance abuse of all different kinds of impacts on a child,” Clinical Director, Kimberly Treharne said.
This is why All Star Children’s Foundation seeks to transform foster care through innovation, science and compassion.
It’s a dream of more than three years in the making. Their goal is to turn lives around with a trauma-sensitive treatment facility. John Hopkins All Children’s Hospital guided the trauma-informed approach.
Clinical Director at All Star Children’s Foundation, Kimberly Treharne, says they remain flexible in their treatment with families.
“We’re really focused on supporting families and trying to set them on a healthy and happy path,” Treharne said.d
Safety is one of the pillars of this trauma-informed approach. Facility dog, Poppy, helps kids feel safe. With 2 years of special training through Canine Companions for Independence, Poppy supports families who have been impacted by trauma.
“She is just amazing, she just helps families feel comfortable,” Treharne said.
Alongside the clinical center, they’re creating a family-style environment for children to live in. Located right behind the clinical building, six foster care homes are close to completion. The homes are approximately 3000 square feet, with five bedrooms, three and half baths.
“With the access to services being in their front yard, it just creates less barriers for children to be able to receive services on a consecutive basis,” Program Director, Lindsey May said. “As well as having home support that can come from having clinicians in your front yard.”
Program Director of All Star Children’s Foundation, Lindsey May, says their search for foster parents is very mission-driven.
“We want parents to come into this setting and understand that we want to elevate the role of a foster parent,” May said. “We want to train them, encourage them, support them, so that they themselves can then pour themselves into these children and into the families that they’re working with.”
They’re opening the doors to a happier place.
They’re recruiting for foster parents up until they break ground in early 2020. For more information about becoming a foster parent in their program, you can visit their website.
