St. Vincent’s Foster Family Agency has many success stories to tell. Many of them are success stories of boys who were in both our residential treatment program, St. Vincent’s School for Boys, and our foster care program. Most are graduates from our Intensive Treatment Foster Care program. Their stories are in the accompanying videos. Our foster parents also wish to share their experiences with you via letter (Sue Lebel) and a video clip (Mario Guzman). For video of other, successful Foster Care graduates, visit the Intensive Treatment page. If you are interested in being put in contact with a parent who can tell you what it’s like to work with our agency, many parents have agreed to share their experiences with you. Just call 415.507.4289 for the contact information.

As an agency, we make great efforts to remain in contact with our graduates and to provide them with guidance and support along their next journey, should they request it. In the accompanying video before the annual Vincenzo Wine & Food Festival audience, Montel describes his experiences at St. Vincent's School for Boys followed by his successful graduation from St. Vincent's Foster Care.

To see the video please click here.

Foster Care Myths

One myth we need to dispel immediately is that “foster parents do it for the money”. Our experience with foster parents could not be further from the truth. The people who contact us do so out of a commitment to a “greater good”, “wanting to give back” or “help others, especially children”. Knowing that there are so many foster children who are in need of a good home is the other leading motivation that we hear. Although there is a monthly stipend, it is a modest sum, especially in California.

St. Vincent's Foster parents are serving their community. They are committed to making a difference in the world, one child at a time. They understand it takes all of us to help children who are truly the victims of their parents' choices to use substances or their parents’ own abusive childhood or mental illness. The folks we work with understand the cycle of abuse can be changed by the fact that they are providing an alternative family model. They have seen that fostering changes lives. Foster parents in our program will tell you that while sometimes challenging and frustrating, foster parenting is the most rewarding thing they have done in their lives.

Another myth is that foster parents take in a lot of kids. While we sometimes get requests for siblings, we need foster parents for just one kid at a time, most often. At St.Vincent’s, we often are looking for a family to help with the last few years of high school and be a permanent connection for that teen as he or she emancipates. Even if you can’t foster a child in your home, if you are able to make a permanent connection to a youth, that connection can be invaluable for the few teens we have who have no permanent adult to guide them through life.

Foster parent Mario Guzman shares the experience that his wife, Pam, and he have had with St. Vincent's Foster Care.  To see the video clip please click here.

A letter from a foster parent reads...

April 17, 2004

Re: St. Vincent Foster Family Agency

To whom it may concern,

We have been licensed foster parents with St. Vincent’s for almost six years. We chose St. Vincent’s after talking to and attending orientations for several other foster family agencies. It is a decision we will always be grateful for. St. Vincent’s is smaller than other agencies and we have found this to be a major advantage. One of the major reasons we chose St. Vincent’s was because they care about the well-being of the entire family. When placing children they do not just look at our home as another bed. One place we went to, during an orientation, the staff said to check around, they pay the best. As pay had nothing with our decision to do foster care or adopt, we continued looking. It took about two years for us to find St. Vincent’s.

Because of their size, our children and my husband and I are familiar with all the social workers. So when our social worker is on vacation, it is not a total stranger stepping up to the plate in an emergency. The social workers are also aware of each other's cases so they are not walking in blindly. Our social workers visit weekly and are very conscientious of making sure each child succeeds.

St. Vincent’s training days is a time when we all get together and get to know each other as foster families. We learn about what each other are going through, ideas are shared, and we know we can rely on each other when needed. We have utilized our network of foster parents for childcare, respite, idea bouncers, and just plain to have someone who understands. St. Vincent’s social workers get to know the foster families and their expectations of children so they attempt to not “set up for failure” families or children. They work at making sure that any information they have is given to families so they can be aware of what a child’s trigger may be. They also work on issues and have practice time on how to act in situations to avoid an escalation.

At this time, we have adopted both of our foster children. Without our St. Vincent’s continued support with our older son, we would not have had the strength to stick with him. But we are happy to say he will be 18 shortly and will graduate from high school this June.

We hope this helps you make a decision on why St. Vincent’s is an excellent place for workers to place children in need of care and an excellent program for foster parents to choose for their agency.

Sincerely,

Susan Lebel