Foster Closet steps into gap to provide for families in need
Foster care systems are known for supporting children in need, but who supports foster parents in caring and providing for their new family members? Community members Brittany Running and Mallory Schmidt teamed up to create the Winnebago County Foster Closet to attempt to help out.
“The Winnebago County Foster Closet provides the basic necessities from when a family gets licensed through their first placement and beyond,” Running said. “We provide things such as clothing, bedding, beds, strollers, car seats, and diapers. Anything that we can provide to a family, whether they’re licensed through a private agency or through the county, would need to assist them better to get a placement.”
There are many people involved with the Foster Closet who work together to make a difference in the lives of foster parents and children.
“One of the first things that Mallory and I wanted to do was create a board of directors,” Running said. “We actually have a really great group on the board of directors that are so supportive. We have monthly meetings and we're constantly talking to each other.”
The Foster Closet just recently opened, but they have already been busy aiding those in need.
“We technically started in November 2020, so we’re still brand new and we helped out a couple families around Christmas time,” Running said. “We really started filling requests in January and started taking off this year.”
Special Education instructor Amy Von Holzen works with students at West and in eAcademy who have autism, and she has been a foster parent since August.
“The girls that started the foster closet are girls I went to high school with,” she said. “I’m friends with them on Facebook, which is where I first found out about it. I am also a licensed foster parent, so I got an email saying it was opening and that kind of brought it to my attention.”
Running realized while talking to co-creator Schmidt that more needed to be done for foster families, which started the conversation for the organization.
photo by Abe Weston
The Winnebago County Foster Closet’s new location is 610 Oregon Street. The closet aims to provide resources and materials to aid new foster families.
“I’m a current foster parent in Winnebago County and Mallory has always been super supportive of any of the kids we take into our home,” Running said. “She treats them as if they were her biological kids. She and I were talking about it one night and we said there's a need for this. As we started talking to more foster parents, we realized how big a need it really was and the idea just took off from there.”
As the Foster Closet is a new resource, the owners are trying to make sure people in the area know about them.
“The biggest thing right now is making sure that these families feel comfortable coming to us,” Running said. “We’re doing different fundraisers and we have apparel.”
Von Holzen believes that the closet is a great way to help foster families and children, and that it can make life a little easier for them.
“I think that it’s a really great thing because I kind of compare it to the teacher closet,” she said. “The Foster Closet is for foster parents who might get a placement of a child who maybe doesn’t have clothes, or maybe the foster parent doesn’t have the right clothes for that child. Instead of having to go out and buy all new things, things are donated and then they can look for whatever they need for the child that was placed with them.”
Running is proud that she and everyone involved with the program are making the difference they hoped to see and feels great about fulfilling the requests they have gotten.
“I’ve been a foster parent for two and a half years now,” she said. “When we get a call for a message or a request, we have been able to fulfill that request the same day or within 24 hours. Just getting that message of gratitude and how it saves them time or money or how we made the first night of their placement so much easier is exactly why we wanted to start this.”
Running is eager to educate others who might not be aware of the closet and foster care system, as well as help anyone who wants more information about her project.
“If anyone has any questions, even about foster care, they’re more than welcome to reach out to us whether they call, text, message on Facebook, or email us,” she said. “We’re more than happy to answer any questions or provide education about the foster care system because a lot of people are unfamiliar with it.”
Running is focusing on bringing awareness of the closet to the Winnebago area so families are able to utilize the services the closet provides.
“We’re posting on our Facebook page any of our current needs,” Running said. “Right now, getting our name out to the foster families throughout Winnebago County so they know they can reach out to us is the biggest thing, and making sure that these families know we’re here to support them however we can.”
by Meghan Oakes
Published February 26, 2021
Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue 5