Stories Archives - California Alliance of Caregivers Inc.

Brenda Checklenis

account-managers@tappnetwork.com — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 17:06:43 +0000

“California Alliance of Caregivers is not only a caring group of individuals, but also a great place to find various resources to help you through this journey of being a caregiver. I found a trusting group where I can share my story of being guardian kinship parent of a 7 year-old that has extraordinary medical needs, and of the many struggles that go along with being a caregiver while trying to navigate a very complex system.”

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Dani and Jason Hilde-Sandahl

account-managers@tappnetwork.com — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 17:06:06 +0000

“You (CAC) helped so much to not sever our family dynamic by giving me the tools to know what to say and do so we didn’t lose our daughter or our grand daughters! It feels like when I knew what verbiage and codes and forms to use with Social Services, they backed down, such as a voluntary placement agreements emergency guardianship. I wouldn’t have known any of this without your help.It was the same with proper form and websites to use. I truly appreciate all you did while I was in crisis those weeks!”

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The Bethke Family

account-managers@tappnetwork.com — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:41:27 +0000

In 2011, my wife and I began a journey of fostering where we became parents to six different children over a seven year period. We were also lucky enough to adopt three of those kids and become their “forever family.” It has been a rewarding but heartbreaking journey. Becoming a caregiver for California foster children has definitely been the hardest job either of us have ever undertaken. Much of our difficulty resulted from outdated or poorly-crafted child welfare policies that actually worked against the well-being of the children under our care. Most of the time we felt powerless to advocate for our children in a child welfare bureaucracy that often looked at us as mere childcare vendors for the state. As daily (24/7) caregivers, we knew these children (and their needs) better than anyone else, yet the “system” often ignored our concerns. We needed a larger organization to help us advocate for the best interests of the kids whose care had been entrusted to us. At that time no such organization existed.

But now I’m proud to serve as a board member for the California Alliance of Caregivers (CAC), that works with a growing membership of caregivers across the state to advocate for foster families in Sacramento. This is a young organization, however, and it needs watering. Please help this organization to grow and become an amplified voice for California’s foster children and their caregivers. California Alliance of Caregivers works with partner organizations to make sure the California child welfare system always serves the best interests of children while they are in foster care. – Rob Bethke.

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