What are the barriers you encountered that prevented you from taking placement or continuing to foster?

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• The challenges of teens and I'm to afraid to say I need a break. Or just someone saying we back you up.
• Lies from DHHS, being unable to protect foster child from dangerous situations due to DHHS not listening to CASA, GAL, foster parents, and doctors.
• Daycare, need a large passenger van to take anymore in order to be able to drive them! The need for sleep!
• Lack of follow through with listening to the children from DHHS. Caseworkers not taking the responsibility of being the legal guardian. Not knowing what is going on with said child (medically/school/etc.).
• Age range not being suitable for our home/life at time of call.
• Not enough room in my home.
• Damage to home. Other children in home being exposed to youth's substance abuse and no one holding the youth accountable but us.
• Finishing our basement.
• Not in age range.
• Limited space. We're only licensed for one child.
• Placement restrictions due to age of kids.
• CEU’s.

What are the barriers you encountered that prevented you from taking placement or continuing to foster?

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• DHHS.
• Did not get any support when I had cancer and 3 foster children. I was treated horribly and not allowed to have respite because I asked for respite when I was very sick they took away one of the children with severe behaviors and split up siblings that I adopted later. Since 2017 my two daughters that I adopted have not been allowed to see their biological brother that they lived with for 10 years and he only lives 15 miles from us his new adoptive parents refuse to allow us to see him this has tragically heard them, and they have had to have therapy for this and all the other things that happened to them when they were in foster care.
• Was lied to by DHHS/many details left out so hesitant to take new placements.
• Number of children, proximity.
• Negative interactions with case manager.
• Family placement.
• Behaviors.
• My foster daughter went home after a year and a half and currently need some time to grieve.
• Just adopted, waiting for them to get settled in.
• Adopted our child. Home is currently on hold.
• Lack of support with sick kids.

What are the barriers you encountered that prevented you from taking placement or continuing to foster?

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• Adopted son needing a lot of service currently
• Added to family and we were at max by state law
• We took guardianship of one child and adopted 2, but still remain in contact with many of our placements and felt we were at capacity if we wanted to be able to remain a healthy support to these children when needed.
• We currently have placement of a great niece.
• Needed more support
• Still doing so
• The psychological needs of the current placements
• Had a bio baby
• Case manager
• Pregnancy/having a baby
• Someone who can find therapists or other medical persons who are open to taking more patients. This would cut out the time spent to try to find medical people for foster kids
• Knowing/connecting with other single foster parents. It's a unique situation.
• Overall support, not feeling supported
• Only want kinship
• Needed a break

Beth Israel Synagogue

Bridge Church

Christ Place

CityLight

Cross the Line Church

Good News Church

Harvest Church

Hope Presbyterian

Journey Church (2)

Kingdom Builders Christian Center

Life Church (2)

Lifegate Church (3)

Love Church

Mary Our Queen

Milford Mennonite Church

Non-Denominational

One Way Church

One Way Ministries

Revival Church

St. Andrews

St. Bernard Catholic Church

St. Pius X

Southridge Church

Stonebridge Christian Church

Thanksgiving Lutheran

Tribe Church

Unitarian Church of Lincoln

Wymore Church of Christ

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We have a group of Christ following friends but are currently not attending a church regularly. We consider ourselves to be apart of Love Church, but seriously have only gone 2x/year these last few years.

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• Support. Help with transportation to appts. Food. Just a break!!
• Advice of the unknown. Getting over that hurdle was the hardest for us. What is going to happen next or what could. To prepare
• I feel so alone. Sometimes I wonder how my bio kids feel through this chaos. The standards are different in how I parent my foster kids vs my bio kids. I feel the animosity from the bio mother of my foster kids. I feel like I am always having to justify and protect myself. So I guess emotional support? I feel like no matter the missteps that bio parents make while trying to get kids back foster parents have to do more and more. The answer always has to be yes because I don’t feel like I get to set boundaries.
• Time away to rest, Daily chores, transportation, help when kids are sick so I didn’t have to leave work
• I think not just providing time away for foster parents but offering each licensed home therapy/counseling to give them a place to work through their own stress, trauma, heartache that can come with foster care. Preferably to a wide range of providers so they can find the right fit for them.
• Respite, a listening ear, laundry help
• Dinners are hardest; transportation to therapy; trusted friends and families of friends for fosters

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• The agency that provides supervised visits with biological parents is inconsistent and does not seem to have enough staff to provide make-up visits. We could use flexibility to be able to cancel and reschedule visits.
• Getting respite when needed for our marriage and our children.
• Having time for all children in the home. Having time for spouse.
• Support in general. Community, family, agency support is huge in whether a family is successful in fostering.
• Finding respite homes
• When I had the 14 and 16 year old's, the biggest need was the need for things for the boys to do after school and over the summer. For me, it was the need for resources for auto insurance, cell phone - these are things that can be tricky to acquire for a foster kiddo without taking on the personal liability/cost.
• Meal prep/planning. Having not had to cook for a teenager, coordinating everyone's preferences is a bit difficult.
• Just getting a mental break. All the chores are overwhelming. Laundry for five small kids is hard to keep up with.
• Respite care

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• Diapers, formula and age-appropriate activities at reasonable times
• Support as a single mother
• Respite and time to take a mental break. Genuine compassion and validation about what we experience and deal with.
• Better communication from case worker - more follow up
• Support for sick kids/no school days�Transportation for school, appts, therapy�Emotional support�The need to have a voice in court for the children
• Therapy for foster and biological children �Health and education records
• Right now a break
• Rest. Support from previous church
• Mental health; free therapy.
• More support with getting him clothes as he didn’t have any when I got him
• Better communication/support from case managers.
• We desperately need a break. Consistent support and encouragement would be a great help.

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• Support with child's behaviors, support from caseworker (she was blaming of foster parents), respite for short periods of time (an evening out), help when kids could not attend school due to behaviors (missing work), technology support for teenagers (phone, computer safety issues)
• Respite
• Understanding of specific special needs of high needs kiddos
• Support and not to feel like a victim. If we would've been allowed to have respite as needed, my children would still have their brother.
• Needing ways to recharge
• Respite, meal-time
• Effective communication with case manager. Respite. Behavioral support for kids. Emotional support for self. Logistical support for a single working foster mom trying to navigate endless appointments.
• Support as a single parent with no family in town. Working with the school and advocating for my foster son's rights and needs.
• Clothes diapers
• Clothing, activity fees for children
• Respite, help with errands and appointments, care when kids are sick, easy meals or door dash

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• Someone to help us pour into our foster children. It was too difficult to fill in all the gaps on our own. Maybe an intentional mentor type of support for them that could help them with homework sometimes or teach them some life skills and just help us make sure they felt loved. We didn't do respite because we always felt like the way it was set up made it fell like a rejection for the kids. I never wanted to make them feel like I needed a break so bad that I would send them to a stranger's house. So having someone that would support us by initiating the invitation to have the child spend time with them would have been amazing. This would have made it the complete opposite of a rejection for the child.
• Knowing that the Case Manager actually listens when we are grandparents/Foster parents know what we are talking about when it comes to placing the foster child with birth parent that was recently (within last 2 months).
• Childcare/respite
• Getting breaks
• A lot of it came down to logistics and trying to manage their needs/activities and still take care of myself.
• A bigger house
• Respite with a trusted person so I could relax without concern. Help along her to appointments.

What were/are your greatest needs as a foster family?

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• DRIVING! Homework help or meal prep
• Support and understanding of all the different challenges that are faced and mixed emotions that the family goes through.
• Medically trained respite providers. Being paid accordingly due to child's needs.
• Transportation, prayer and meals.
• - prayer for us as foster parents and prayer for our foster kids - other adults who build relationship/mentorship with our foster kids
• Help with groceries, this is my main struggle is making sure I have fruits, milk, bread, eggs and so forth.
• The agency that provides supervised visits with biological parents is inconsistent and does not seem to have enough staff to provide make-up visits. We could use a flexibility to be able to cancel and reschedule visits.
• Drowning with managing it all.

How can we most effectively serve you?

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• Support. Help with transportation to appts. Food. Just a break!!
• We love to read about other families journey advice. Mostly kinship because that is our situation.
• I think overall more support needs to be given for foster parents. We are the punching bags of the system. No one ever says hey these people are doing the impossible. I have poured everything I have into my family as a whole and I have nothing else left and yet it still isn’t enough
• Continuing to grow and listen to the complaints of the foster parents. Help them feel supported in their frustrations so that they don't feel defeated when trying to be heard.
• Respite, laundry, general shoulder to cry on
• Gluten free meals (we have 3 celiacs and 7 in our family). Helping with rides or pick ups. Even meal prep
• Be willing to help
• Training to families that is accurate information on what families will actually be going through. The pay is very undervalued due to what foster families deal with daily/most likely won’t be able to work a job with multiple foster children due to behaviors/medical/etc.

How can we most effectively serve you?

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• I think the structure that is already laid out is great. Prayer, meals and transportation to and from school or appointments would be the greatest needs for our family right now.
• I think this is one of the best ways - asking us directly! also I love the monthly support groups
• Yard work and more resources to help with groceries and maybe have a meal made and deliver/dropped off at our home
• Help with babysitting or watching foster children as needed
• Someone to help lighten the load involving household chores and lawn care.
• Helping line up all the extra stuff. Appointments, visits, therapy, it can all become a lot without extra supports.
• Supportive groups �Help with vouchers at placement
• I'd love to see more resources for foster families/kids to help with things that are tied to the kid, rather than to the foster parent. I ran into issues with auto insurance and cell phones for my foster kids.
• Healthy, quick family-friendly recipe ideas.
• Meal prep, childcare for all our kids so we can enjoy a date, mowing the lawn would be a huge help or picking up dog poop 🫣

How can we most effectively serve you?

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• Believe us. Provide daycare outside of work hours for respite needs, I appreciated support groups, support groups for kids too, and family activities (zoo pass, spring game, etc.). An occasional offer to help with kids would be nice. Home repairs after kids break/destroy something,
• Emotional and practical support
• Advocate for the safety of the kids
• It’s too late. We adopted 3 children and have guardianship of one due to wanted to keep bio family welcome in his life. We have a huge heart for foster care but the system hurt all of us. Including bio children.
• The meals are the greatest idea!!
• Meals, prayer, respite, date nights
• Respite, transportation for appointments, an empathetic listening ear.
• More, easy to find and access, options for qualified respite providers and sitters. Options for occasional transportation.
• Passes to outings, zoo, pumpkin patch, children’s museum
• Provide better resources for items needed
• We have a great support system already but finding ways to encourage more families to build relationships with the biological families

How can we most effectively serve you?

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• Not sure who "we" is in this question?
• I don't really know what you do honestly!
• An option for care when kids are sick or school is out
• Not sure, we would ask our agency if we needed anything
• I think we had good support from our agency. We just haven’t had a break since we started and need the break for our family.
• Awareness is key. Bringing the foster care world to more people.
• We have no plans to be licensed again. But your heart to help others to feel supported and not alone is serving me as well :)
• One of my biggest frustrations is the foster care system itself. They can’t keep case managers and everything is done extremely slowly. You should work on supporting them with meals and prayers.
• Support.
• Prayer.
• Knowing that there are people praying for us and helping in tangible ways.
• By providing respite care
• New care team leader
• Better trained Case Managers; listening skills are very important.

How can we most effectively serve you?

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• Prayers, house projects as we are not very handy
• Having someone to call who has fostered before and can give practical advice when you don't know how to handle a behavior
• Respite and/or driving kids to appointments.
• Help find a bigger house.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

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• We are almost at reunification most likely in 4 to 6 weeks . So we would like information or advice with kinship going thru this part.
• I also think a mentor program would be great. Sometimes I just want to spring-board off someone else in the same situation that can say hey you’re doing fine or this is what we can try. We are newish at this and we are a kinship with full license and this is hands down the hardest thing I have ever done
• I have no idea what I need sometimes until it all hits the fan. Ideas of what people are wanting to do to help is usually easier for me. Give me a list and I can tell you if it would be helpful! �This is amazing and when I listened to the information I was in tears, that who would be so generous and want to help when we signed up for this crazy road that we live!
• DHHS caseworkers need to understand the actual role they are to be providing to their children they are legal guardians for. Can’t take the responsibility appropriately then they need to be removed immediately. Foster families go through a lot, adding pay that isn’t even adequate for growing children, can’t even accurately feed/clothe these children on $20 a day. Because being a foster parent is extremely hard as it is and not having appropriate pay to make sure foster child is taken care of properly ( food/hygiene/extracurricular activities).

Is there anything else you would like to add?

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• I’ve already talked to Tim and we are starting the process of praying through who would be best for our care team.
• My foster care experience with Release has been wonderful and I have no complaints. I enjoy the monthly support group very much and I love my Foster Care Specialist, she's incredibly intentional and I feel very supported by her. I appreciate the events/resources provided without feeling "pushed or forced" to HAVING to participate. If anyone I knew ever wanted to foster, I would 100% recommend Release as their choice of agency.�***FYI for the form in the question above "What are the barriers you encountered that prevented you from taking placement or continuing to foster?" - none of the provided choices apply to us, however it required me to choose something and wouldn't let me submit the form otherwise and so that answer is not true, but I had to pick something.
• Holidays is so so stressful for me ,then having 6 kids and getting only once a month pay
• There are not enough resources for foster parents. Caseworkers treat you like you’re getting paid to foster. If you were getting paid it would equate to $0.75 an hour for a two parent home.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

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• The hardest part of fostering isn’t the kids in care or bio families. It’s the system that drains foster families.
• Of all the challenges that I thought foster care would entail, I did not expect meal prep stress as the worst!
• Our experience was mostly great, but one caseworker ruined it for us. She was blaming, created distrust, and hurt our relationship with the birth parent due to her triangulation. Caseworkers need to remember they are only involved for a short time, but we are involved for a lifetime. I would love to support current foster families!
• CEUs or training that is required, is what originally caused our license to expire. We are licensed professionals in the state of Nebraska and do lots of CEUs for that, but they cannot be used for licensing foster care as the timing did not line up
• We need to be proactive with the kids and their needs... not just serve the parents. These kids have been through trauma and we have to address the situations that they have been through or they will never be able to live to their utmost potential.
• I would gladly meet and tell our story to protect children and wonderful foster families from being destroyed as ours was.
• I have loved being a foster parent and cannot wait for my next placement.
• De-escalation training

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Is there anything else you would like to add?

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• The few times I did reach out for help I did not receive any, that makes it discouraging. If there is a group of people dedicated to being willing to help that would be helpful to do many families
• The system is incredibly broken. At this time I have chosen to not take more placements.
• I am adopting the children in my care now and will no longer be fostering.
• Case managers NEED to communicate better and keep the Foster Care Specialist in the loop and give them ALL the information regarding the case!!!
• Any practical assistance equates to support and that is HUGE.
• Thank you for doing this. It is needed!