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NILES — A local nonprofit organization is doing its part to provide a safe haven for foster, adoptive and kinship children in southwest Michigan.

Founded in Kalamazoo in 2023 by Michelle Dulaney and Johni Bunch, Heart for Home is a nonprofit organization aiming to connect foster, adoptive and kinship children with supportive and healing homes for respite care. 

Respite homes are licensed foster homes available for temporary care for foster and adopted children along with families working with Community Mental Health who have respite care in their care plan. Temporary respite homes provide the break foster, adoptive and kinship families need to recharge and continue caring for kids in care. Respite care lasts as little as a half-a-day and up to five consecutive days. The length of the respite stay is agreed upon before placement. 

Respite family homes undergo the same licensing process as foster homes which includes paperwork, training, background checks, and home visits to ensure safety and preparedness.

Driven by a desire for supporting foster, adoptive and kinship families, Heart for Home was founded with the core belief that every foster, adoptive and kinship family deserves unwavering support and respite care. Since its launch two years ago, Heart for Home has expanded to serve 19 counties in west and southwest Michigan, including Berrien and Cass Counties.

Currently, Heart for Home has one respite family in Cass County and two in Berrien County and is actively moving to increase those numbers.

“Even if you haven’t been in a situation like that, just imagine having to suddenly, for some reason, lose everything you’re familiar with,” said Julia Carey, a Heart for Home Recruiter and Family Support Coordinator for Berrien and Cass County. “Depending on what age you are, that can be really tough. Kids crave consistency and for them to have to be uprooted from all things familiar, is a loss. They have to get used to a whole different family culture.” 

She went on to share, “Yes, respite care is an investment of time. When you think about that and then you think about how you spend your time, we only live once. We can’t take back the time that we have, right? So why not invest in the lives of these precious children?”

Foster care is near and dear to O’Carey’s heart, having fostered and adopted her youngest daughter.

“We went through that process and so we know how important respite and support are for people who are caring for children from hard places, because it’s not easy,” she said. “It’s rewarding, but it’s incredibly intensive. It’s a journey when you take a child who has gone through loss and abuse and oftentimes exhibits all sorts of behaviors because they’re just hurting inside. You have to  surround them with love and help them learn coping skills and a healthy way of thinking. It’s great, but you need support and that’s why I love Heart for Home.”

The program also hosts events to create a sense of community among foster families. Earlier this month, O’Carey partnered with Andrews University and several organizations to host an action screening of “Sound of Hope” – a film adapting the true story of 22 families from the rural Bennett Missionary Baptist Church who came together to adopt 77 kids in the foster care system – at Andrews University. Information on foster care, adoption, respite care, with a question and answer panel, reception and exhibits followed the film.

According to O’Carey, approximately 165 people attended the event.

“People asked real questions and it was a lively discussion,” O’Carey said. “After that, we had a beautiful reception and people got to know the area organizations like Michiana Family Center, DHHS, and Heart for Home, so it was a success.”

Heart for Home aims to provide a loving environment and guidance for foster families, addressing issues such as abuse, neglect, and Post-traumatic stress.

The organization also also aims to bring awareness of the struggles of foster children. 

“Sometimes people think (foster children only consist of) kids of drug addicts, certain ethnicities or the underprivileged,” she said. “ But it can be a full gambit of kids. From our refugee and immigrant children, whose parents had to get deported and they were born here or the parents went through trauma and they don’t know how to deal with the kids because they have their own issues, there can be a number of reasons why children need to be temporarily cared for.”

O’Carey said that a little more than 50 percent of foster children get reunited with their families. 

“It’s our goal to be as supportive as possible in any way,” she said. These children have so much potential. They need to be treated like normal kids who need love, care, safety, good education and all the basics, just like any other kid. It’s important for us to  do whatever we can to best serve the children. I invite this community to join us in these efforts.”

Readers interested in learning more about how to donate funds for support events that help foster children heal from trauma, volunteer, or how to become a respite home can visit heartforhome.info or contact Julia O’Carey at jocarey@h4hmi.org.