New neighborhood support program helps foster families in Coos County

Apr. 9--COOS COUNTY -- All around Coos County, heroes are popping up and coming to the rescue.

As the novel coronavirus continues to unfold, citizens throughout the county are stepping up to help some of the area's most vulnerable populations.

As part of a statewide initiative, the Oregon Department of Human Services teamed up with Every Child, a community-led nonprofit organization, to launch a new comprehensive emergency response system to get foster families the help they need.

On March 23, the "My NeighbOR" initiative was kick-started as a way to connect citizens across the state with foster families and youth in foster care who are in need of tangible, essential items.

"When COVID-19 started happening, what we started to see around the state were foster families in crisis," said Every Child Coos County Director Melissa Hart. "We saw families that weren't able to get out and get groceries, families that were desperately needing educational supplies and other essential items."

According to Hart, a majority of the families in need are just simply unable to leave their homes to grab groceries or supplies as they have a full house of children with behavioral challenges or kids who are medically fragile.

As an organization that specializes in community mobilization, Hart said its nonprofit decided they wanted to provide additional support to foster families and connect them with community members who are looking to help.

As of now, the county has received eight need requests from families who said they were in need of items such as diapers and groceries, said Hart. Nearly 20 people have signed up to become donors or "neighbors" and so far about five of those needs have been met.

In addition to needing essential items, a large portion of families in the area are actually in need of entertainment items to keep their families busy, said Hart.

"We're encouraging people to make flash boxes for families which can be filled with activities like puzzles, games, gift cards and books," said Hart. "It's just like this box of love essentially for foster families and it's a nice gift, a distraction for families and their kiddos to unpack and do together."

With children in foster care undergoing a major shift in their routines and foster parents facing a limited amount of resources as statewide restrictions related to COVID-19 continue on, Hart said anything community members can do to support and help meet the needs of children in foster care can really make a difference.

"We just want to support these families who are having a really hard time adjusting to this new normal," said Hart. "Some of these families themselves some have lost their jobs and they're having to take care of themselves, their (birth) family and their kids in the foster system."

Understanding a lot of people around the county are facing their own struggles in response to the coronavirus, Hart said it's been remarkable to see so many folks push aside some of their own needs to help others less fortunate.

"We've been able to meet all the critical needs here locally with our foster families which has been awesome," said Hart. "... Our community really is so strong and so generous."

Additional resources:

If you are an Oregon foster family or a youth in foster care, share your need at https://everychildoregon.org/need/.

If you want to meet a need for foster families, visit https://everychildoregon.org/myneighbor/.

Anyone interested in learning more about the initiative, visit Every Child Coos County's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/everychildcoos.

Reporter Amanda Linares can be reached at 541-266-6039 or by email at worldnews3@countrymedia.net.

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