“These kids need love and need someone to listen to them,” said Miss Ann, a foster parent with Mentor Foster Care, a part of the Sevita family. “I never turn a kid down.”
For some, Miss Ann’s is a way station, a short stop on a longer road to healing. For others, Miss Ann’s is a place of transition from childhood to adulthood, from dependence on an imperfect system to self-sufficiency. For all the children who come there, Miss Ann’s is home.
Making kids feel like part of a community
Dorchester, Massachusetts is where Miss Ann has made her home of 42 years. It’s the kind of community that looks out for one another. No one is anonymous, especially not someone connected to Miss Ann.
“I introduce the kids I care for to the neighborhood,” Miss Ann explained. “My neighborhood is my community. I have a village.”
Not only does Miss Ann give the children she supports a sense of community, she also gives them a place to call home. Every youth who passes through her door knows he or she can come back one day. And they do – for a second chance, some good advice, or simply to say hello.
“They always come back to Miss Ann,” said Tracey Pierre, Program Director for Mentor Foster Care in Massachusetts. “Kids are calling, checking in. These kids don’t have family. Miss Ann’s home is a safe haven for them.”
And that’s just how she likes it.
“When Miss Ann accepts a child or teen into her home, her commitment and dedication to that child is steadfast,” said Michael Medeiros, a trainer with Mentor Foster Care. “She never gives up trying to prepare her children for bright, successful futures. The depth of Miss Ann’s heart is evident to all who meet her.”
Miss Ann inspires others
Miss Ann is also a support system for other Mentor foster parents. She is a certified Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) trainer and has embraced RELATE skill development, which is the heart of Mentor’s clinical model for therapeutic foster care. Along with handing out business cards to new Mentors so they know where to reach her, Miss Ann passes along two mottos: “I’m not a quitter, and don’t take it personally.”
In addition to opening her home to youth at risk, Miss Ann helps her neighbors on a regular basis by taking them to doctors’ appointments, giving food to those faced with homelessness, and lending a hand in many other ways. Of her giving nature, she said, “My mother instilled it in us and it’s hard to shake.”