Bellevue, WA — The CFOS Foundation is pleased to announce our largest grant to date, a maximum of $100,000 in funding and in-kind services to Kindering.
This grant will help fund the growth of Kindering’s CHERISH program, which provides support to infants and toddlers in foster care and their foster families, in order to strengthen attachment and train foster parents to recognize and respond to the special needs of traumatized children.
This grant will be given over a three year period, with the first year being a challenge grant to encourage other entities to join us in funding Kindering. Mimi Siegel, Executive Director of Kindering, said “Kindering is thrilled to have this extraordinary financial investment and contribution of in-kind talent from the CFOS Foundation.
With your support, we will hire an added social worker to meet the increasing demand for infant mental health home visits, and we will continue to train other agencies in King County how to replicate this intervention model.”
About the CHERISH program
Infants comprise one in five foster care admissions. These are babies who have suffered significant emotional stress from neglect, trauma, and abrupt separations from their birth families during critical periods of brain development. Fortunately, the early years present an unparalleled opportunity to intervene and minimize the long-term, permanent effects of trauma on a child’s brain. CHERISH is based on attachment theory and utilizes Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) during weekly, hour-long home visits.
The theory of attachment is that every young child needs at least one close, dependable relationship providing nurturance, security, responsive interaction, and encouragement of exploration to develop to their fullest potential. The ability to form a secure attachment relationship is a protective factor for a lifetime and a “tool” that children can transfer from their relationships with foster caregivers to their permanent birth or adoptive placements, or others. In the CHERISH program, social workers mentor the caregivers, answer behavioral and development questions, make referrals to other community services, and observe the impact this support has over time in strengthening the relationship between foster parents and the children in their care. Each family receives home visits for up to 24 consecutive weeks.
About Kindering
Founded in 1962 by five mothers of children with disabilities, Kindering is the largest intervention center in Washington State, and one of the three largest centers in the nation. At Kindering, infants and toddlers ages birth to three receive critical physical and occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, feeding therapy, special education, and other early intervention programming. In addition, Kindering supports the entire family with comprehensive programs and a true sense of community for those facing the unexpected journey of raising a child with special needs.
About The CFOS Foundation
The CFOS Foundation was founded by the partners of CFO Selections LLC. The vision of this group is to harness the energy and talent of professional people who care about the needs of local foster children and work to make a measurable, positive impact in their lives.
