SUPPORT, PARTNERSHIP, AND CHANGE.

There have been some changes to your Foster Parent Association. Change is often a difficult time of transitions and adjustments. However, this is an exciting change that means many wonderful things for our Foster community.

In April 2019, Christina KarsenGray accepted a full time position with Department of Human Services - Child Welfare as a Foster Parent Support and Community Engagement Champion. This is one of only three positions of this type in the State. We are an incredibly lucky community to have the support of this position and a voice for foster parents at the State level.

That means we also have had to make some changes to our Foster Parent Association Board of Directors. Due to Christina's new position with DHS and to avoid any conflict of interest, she stepped down as President and instead has taken a role of DHS Liaison and will be our direct connection to resources, support, and partnership with DHS Child Welfare. Laura Rini, our voted Vice President has stepped in as our Acting President as stated in the Bylaws of the Association. There will be an open vote in the coming months for a more permanent decision by the voting body. We are incredibly grateful for Laura's service to our Association in the role of President and we are thrilled with the position that Christina has taken on and what that means for the way foster parents are supported in Coos and Curry County.

Many of you may be curious how the Foster Parent Support and Community Engagement Champion will benefit Coos and Curry counties. It means having a dedicated support, advocate, and voice for Coos and Curry counties at Central Office in Salem. It means that Christina will be actively engaging the community to encourage partnerships and resources for our local foster parents, based on identified needs specific to our county. It means there is an opportunity to strengthen and build up our fostering community, increase better outcomes for both biological and foster families, and increase awareness in our community. We are excited to see all that is to come for Coos and Curry through this new position.

If you have any questions regarding any of these changes, please feel free to reach out to anyone serving on the Board of Directors or to Christina Gray, we would be happy to address any concerns or questions.