Leelanau County residents Colleen and Lucas MacDonald didn’t think they would have the opportunity to have children until they adopted five kids of their own from foster care nearly 15 years ago — two sibling groups, all five years-old and under at the time.
Fostering and then adopting their children was one of the couple’s biggest blessings that became reality. Colleen said they were fortunate that both sibling groups were relatively close in age and grew up together just like they were their own natural born children. More than a decade later, the couple is now caring for their adopted kids’ younger siblings.
“We were unable to have a baby and so we decided that we would try foster care. We set out just to foster, then had thought if a child or children were a good fit for us and us for them, that we would consider adoption… Lucas and I love them no differently than any parent would love their biological child,” MacDonald said. “This was 15 years ago, so we were not expecting to be fostering again and for a lot of people, it really is part of your heart… Of course every effort is made to keep siblings together.”
MacDonald said the Child and Family Services (CFS) of Northwestern Michigans’ annual brown bag campaign has been ongoing since her and Lucas have been affiliated with the agency so many years ago. She said the funds donated and raised is a foundational part of keeping CFS open and their programs available in a community where it is very much needed.
“There’s a lot of need. Families struggle in all different kinds of ways… Child and family services have a lot of programs that are necessary for all communities,” Colleen said. “There’s the safe haven, visitation and exchange program for families who are experiencing domestic violence so that the children are able to have visitations with their biological parents and it’s done in a way that’s safe and respectful with really an emphasis on making sure the children feel safe and comfortable going back and forth visiting their biological parents. It’s an amazing program.”
Starting in July, small brown bags will be inserted in local newspapers and can be found at some grocery stores as part of the 35th annual CFS campaign, which aims to help raise funds to provide services for hundreds of children through foster care and other valuable programs. According to the state’s department of health and human services, there are approximately 10,000 children in foster care and nearly 200 children who still need an adoptive family.
Emma Smith, CFS director of development and marketing, said the brown bag is symbolic of a time when kids oftentimes came into foster care with very few belongings such as just a brown paper grocery bag full of whatever they might have.
“This campaign kind of pays homage to that experience,” Smith said. “With the funds that we receive through the Brown Bag Campaign, we are able to help provide things to kids in foster care who maybe wouldn’t otherwise have those same opportunities…” Donations also help pay for things like a stuffed animals to hug, counseling, school supplies, winter boots, and opportunities like music or dance lessons or summer camp. The campaign itself has raised more than $630,000 for children since it began 35 years ago. CFS served over 100 foster children last year and has provided homes for more than 16,000 children since 1937.
Smith said they have about 80 kids in foster care right now, but that they are just one agency out of several others in the region working to help provide services to youth. With CFS being a private agency that covers 20 counties across northern Michigan, she said it’s important to note that about a quarter of their funding, around 25-30%, comes from sources like private donations and grants.
“We contract with the state of Michigan to provide foster care, but the reimbursement rates that the government provides for foster care is not enough to be able to provide those gap funding opportunities,” she explained.
There is a great need for foster parents in Leelanau County specifi cally, Smith said, as there are many kids who need a safe home and care, whether that be through fostering or even as a short-term care provider.
“We’re blessed to live in a pretty affluent area. We see a lot of beauty around us everyday, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems and that there aren’t kids who are struggling and who are not with their biological parents for whatever reason,” she said. “I think it (Leelanau) is an untapped resource for us. There are a lot of caring people there and people who I think could open their homes and their hearts to kids who are in need… we offer orientations, so anyone can hop on and learn about foster care or call us or visit our website if you want to learn about how to possibly become a foster parent or even a short-term care provider.”
Colleen said there’s many ways to be a foster parent, whether it be taking in a child for respite care on an emergency basis or as a full-time caregiver/parent, but a simple way to support now is to utilize the brown bag and donate as anything helps.
“The blessing is just providing the opportunity for these kids to just shine as they do. That’s the joy and the blessing — being a part of these kids’ lives,” Colleen said. “This is a way for people who might not have an opportunity to engage otherwise to be able to very easily and simply help.”
