Unlike other programs, Neighbor to Neighbor also provides support for the foster family. Foster parents and birth parents know that they have access to someone at Neighbor to Neighbor no matter what the problem, and what time of day.

“A lot of people don’t experience that sort of responsiveness,” says Lankford. “There is a willingness to help 24 hours a day. There is even a rotating pager system to make sure someone is available after hours.”

Currently Neighbor to Neighbor has 200 children and 55 foster caregivers. There is a continuous need for foster care providers who are willing to take on more than one child. “It’s important that prospective foster parents not only have a heart, but an understanding of the challenges that they will face,” says Lankford.

Visit www.hullhouse.org/n2n to learn more about Neighbor to Neighbor.

Hear from a Foster Parent

Five years ago, when Diantha Garcia, 37, made a career change that allowed her to stay home with her son Juan, she and her husband Elmer decided it was time to realize a wish that she had always had: To become a foster parent.

The Garcias looked into several programs before discovering Neighbor to Neighbor. “What we liked was that it kept kids together and—so instead of having a lot of different families in your home—you had one family,” she says.

In 2001, after going through family interviews, the application process and eight weeks of rigorous training, the Garcia family welcomed their first foster kids, a group of five siblings; the youngest a newborn, the oldest eight years old.

“The beginning was our most challenging time, because the kids were learning how [to] respond to us,” says Garcia. “But we always had the support of Neighbor to Neighbor to keep us together and to ensure that our family was a success.”