“We love having Maple Star as our CPA. We tell people that Maple Star becomes your coach and your buffer. Instead of working directly with a county caseworker, you have someone that you can be open and honest with, without fears of repercussions, they will fight for you and the foster child and have your voice heard”. We would end with this advice for prospective foster parents. Everyone says the same thing. "I could never foster and let the children go". Our response? Even your biological children will leave. You never know what tomorrow brings and if you live in the future, you lose out on the memories you create today. It hurts when they leave but the thought of never having to have met them is worse. Also, fostering is hard. It takes a lot of fight in you even when you want to stop. Never forget you have a person depending on you to fight when things get tough.

We fostered for over 21 years! Some of our best experiences as foster parents have been seeing the kids reunify with their parents! We also have been richly blessed by adopting children (one sibling group) that needed a permanent plan and a forever home. We have also adopted from foster care. We have been blessed with 6 adopted children! The need was so great-we were able to provide permanency for these kids. Maple Star was very supportive in gathering information about the kids prior to placement. Our Home Supervisor was awesome, in supporting us and visiting more frequently when we had our placement. The advice we would give to prospective foster parents is to seek support and help when you get frustrated! Don't be afraid to ask for help or seek answers to questions. Network with other foster parents, they have been there! Often a listening ear makes a big difference!

I originally started fostering because I knew there were very few foster homes of color and I heard over and over from caseworkers that kids of color often times are harder to place and sit at the county for hours. I wanted to become a foster parent to provide a safe place for those children that are "harder to place". My best experiences as a foster parent have been knowing I've made a positive difference in the life of a child and assisted I've assisted through such a difficult time in their life. The one piece of advice I would give prospective foster families is to be sure to utilize respite and take time for yourself even if you just use the time to sleep!! I love having Maple Star as my CPA because it allows me the chance to work with many different counties.

“I have been a foster parent working with Maple Star for several years now, & have been on the journey from "emergency placement" all the way to adoption recently. I have experienced great support, encouragement and knowledge of resources from this agency. I continually tell people I know who are interested in foster care/adoption, to look up Maple Star. I highly recommend this agency. Thank you!”

“Maple Star is a fantastic option for those looking to foster and foster to adopt. We've worked with them for almost 5 years and couldn't be happier. They have been there to answer questions we have but most importantly, to help us and be there for us when questions and when we needed advice on how to handle situations. From the beginning, Maple Star has helped us become better parents as well as foster parents. We couldn't do this journey without them!”

KEEP listened to all I have to say and supported our future goals. I learned to keep moving forward one day at a time. The support was awesome and we appreciate all they have done with and for us.

KEEP taught us how to decrease the stress and anger in different ways. They helped both me and my son.

KEEP taught us how to cope with my child’s anger. I learned to be calm. KEEP was very helpful and I couldn’t have done it without KEEP.

KEEP taught me that taking space doesn’t just mean it is a good thing for my child; it helps me as a parent to decompress as well.

KEEP helped just by the amount of time they spent with my family, and being there when I needed them the most.