Beacon Hill – A Beacon of Hope, For Everyone
Contributed by Katie Martin
Our family grew from 6 to 10 overnight, it seemed, and we were challenged, to say the least. Foster care was a new adventure for us, and like many, we were a little overzealous. We idealized what it would be like to have a huge family – big meals around the table, multi-bunk bed systems in the bedroom to accommodate oh so many children, and lots of smiles and laughter, of course. What hit us instead was the reality of children needing therapy to work through tough issues, our house and furniture getting damaged by kids who were still needing training, and being so sleep exhausted that we hardly felt able to feed all of those people – 3 times per day (did I mention that needed to happen every day?)
Don’t get me wrong. We’ve been incredibly blessed by nearly 25 kids who have come through our house in the last few years. Damaged furniture and sleepless nights are a small price to pay to be able to see a child reunified with their parents. We love this calling. We just wish we would have known that Beacon Hill existed this entire time, instead of finding out about this organization only in the last year or two.
Beacon Hill first came on my radar when I signed up for a training on best practices for family contact. Family contact is probably the most important job as a foster parent because it’s what allows us to aid in the continued relationship between child and parent. Parents who have lost their children to the system often feel hopeless. Many know they have “messed up” and want a chance to redeem themselves. Family contact gives them face-to-face time with their children. With the help of Beacon Hill, they can do this in a “home-like setting” where children and their parents can have the comfort of being in an environment which is also a neutral space. This contact helps them to keep the hope alive that if they continue down the road to healing and get the support and services they need, they will one day be able to bring their kids home again.
That’s not all that Beacon Hill does, though. After being exposed to the family contact training and becoming aware of the space they provide to facilitate that contact, I was made aware of “the Shed”. It’s not as scary as it sounds, but rather, it’s a place that houses kids’ clothing in to-go bags, organized by size. It has a plethora of baby and toddler equipment. It even has a deep freezer full of meals ready to hand out to families in need. When our family started doing emergency foster care in January of 2022, I soon considered us a family in need. It was hard to utilize the resources at the Shed before this time because I always had the thought that someone needed these resources more than we did. Emergency foster care brought us to our knees and humbled us to a place where we could utilize the resources the Shed had to offer. But I’m here to tell you now that all foster families find themselves in need because it's hard work. Beacon Hill helps stabilize foster homes during hard transitions such as accepting a new child into the home, illnesses, hospitalizations, or transitions out of the home. When we moved to the Valley over 4 years ago, we had no idea Beacon Hill even existed. My hope is that other foster homes find out sooner than we did about the wonderful services Beacon Hill has to offer.
I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer with Beacon Hill recently to help get the word out about what they have to offer. Part of the problem Beacon Hill is facing is that it relies on third parties to spread the word about events they are hosting. They need email addresses! They also have a Facebook group called “Foster Well” where foster and bio families can find and share information about upcoming events. To be included in a monthly newsletter or bimonthly foster parent events notice, email info@beaconhillak.org. To have more day-by-day updates of what Beacon Hill is up to, join their Foster Well Mat-Su Facebook group. And I’m going to go a step further and ask: Can you get one of your friends to do the same? Beacon Hill is a place that offers a beacon of hope to all in need. You can help today by spreading the word. Will you?