To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Meg Easter-Dawson 565-8383, Donna Broadbent 565-4349
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Recommended Action:
Title
Adopt a Gold Resolution recognizing Joyce and Jim Hammerich as the 2022 RaiseAChild Honors Award Foster Parents of the Year
Body
Executive Summary:
The 2022 statewide RaiseAChild Honors Award has been awarded to Sonoma County Foster parents Joyce and Jim Hammerich.
Discussion:
Sonoma County Human Services Department’s partner, RaiseAChild, honors the most outstanding foster parents in the state of California each year with the Honors Award. This year that award has been given to Sonoma County community members Joyce and Jim Hammerich. RaiseAChild is a nonprofit that partners with counties to recruit, certify and train foster parents.
After raising four kids of their own, the Hammeriches decided to become foster parents and have since fostered over 140 children and supported 24 children in the process of reunification with their birth families over the last 20 years. “We both come from large families. I had read somewhere that kids coming into foster care get separated from their siblings because there aren’t enough foster homes who can care for sibling groups. So, we started fostering so we could keep siblings together,” said Joyce Hammerich.
The Hammeriches’ passion shines through in all that they do as foster parents for the children in their home, as foster parent mentors for newly approved families, and for their community as active members of the Redwood Empire Foster Parent Association. They continuously step up for children and families in ways that inspire others to do the same.
Joyce Hammerich encourages others to consider foster parenting and the rewards it brings. “For us it’s feeling that we make a difference in the life of a child, a child that is going through change and trauma,” said Hammerich. “Our goal is that the children in our care feel nurtured, safe and loved while they are in our home. And staying in their lives forever is the ultimate win.” The Hammeriches recently attended the wedding of one of their former foster daughters who asked Jim Hammerich to walk her down the aisle.
The award is an annual recognition from RaiseAChild, a nonprofit partner of Sonoma County assisting in the recruitment and support of LGBTQ+, Spanish-speaking and all prospective foster parents. RaiseAChild hosts free, virtual information sessions and parent matching events to help support prospective foster parents in growing your family. RaiseAChild also offers resources and guidance through the process of fostering and fostering-to-adopt.
Currently, the Hammeriches are fostering three children, two of whom are brothers. Soon, the family will be welcoming their sister into the home so the siblings can all be together. Joyce and Jim are pillars in our foster care community and this honor is very well deserved.
Prior Board Actions:
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
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Attachments:
Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
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