Featured Foster Family: Adam and Vanessa
Meet Family Works foster parents Vanessa and Adam. They reside in Reedsburg, WI and have been doing foster care with Family Works for 6.5 years.
Getting Started
Adam and Vanessa started their foster care journey after they found themselves in a situation where they were caring for the child of a family friend. This was an unofficial placement, but they had this child in their care for about 6 weeks. This child returned home to their parents; however, they continued to have concerns about this child’s wellbeing and wanted to support him in any way they could after he returned home. Vanessa shares that if they had the proper resources or more support at this time, they may have been able to help this child even more while providing for their care. This child is now an adult with whom they remain in contact. This experience prompted Vanessa and Adam to pursue their foster care license in 2019. They came to realize that there are many more children in their area that need a safe place to go and wanted to help in any way that they could.
Family Lifestyle
Adam and Vanessa are currently a family of eight, having two of their own kids and four foster children in their care. These kids have been a huge part of their family and have been placed in the home now for about 4 years.
Adam and Vanessa have a very active family. They enjoy doing outdoor activities together as a family such as hiking, kayaking/canoeing, and camping. They enjoy running and going to the gym together as well. They also enjoy gardening and raising farm animals as a family, even raising chickens from eggs in an incubator. The kids have enjoyed watching the development of egg to chicken and each has their own role in caring for the chicks once they hatch. This is just one example of how Vanessa and Adam engage their kids in activities that create environments for learning and nurturing.
What Keeps them Going?
Adam and Vanessa continue to provide care each year because they love the kids and love what they do. They have such a passion for helping children in their community and making a difference one child at a time. “Even when everything is going wrong, at the end of the day, we take a deep breath and know that we are making a difference in some type of way”. Adam and Vanessa share that they went on their foster care journey to be a safe place for a child to land but explain that they did not realize what impact it would have for them as well. They share that it is a huge honor to be in the kids’ lives in any capacity and they learn from the kids each day.
Not only do they enjoy being foster parents for the kids, but also for the foster care community that they have joined and the people they have met along the way. “We have really enjoyed the ability to get to know so many different people. We ourselves have grown tremendously because of the experiences with children, bio families, other foster parents and community members”.
Words of Advice from Adam and Vanessa
- The cliché of kids in foster care being bad or broken is a total myth. Kids often come into care and just need someone to be safe and supportive.
- Even on your worst days, you are still doing great stuff.
- You get just as much of a reward from them as they get from you.
- For the people that say “I could never let them go” it isn’t about not letting them go.
- Fostering is about helping children learn to thrive outside of the home and heal generational trauma. There is way more reward than heartbreak!
- It is for a great purpose, and it can be so beautiful.
Why Family Works?
When looking into their foster care journey, Vanessa and Adam explored a few options before ultimately deciding on Family Works. They enjoy working with Family Works because of the support from their social worker as well as the support from the Family Works community. Vanessa and Adam share that they feel super lucky to have the support of their social worker, Kimberly; adding that she is very real and not afraid to tell them how it is. Adam and Vanessa share that they also really appreciate the monthly case consultations that are offered by Family Works. They explain that there is always someone to bounce ideas off, whether that be a social worker or another foster parent within Family Works. “We have never felt unsupported from Family Works.” 
Family Works Social Worker says:
“I began working with Adam and Vanessa in 2019. They had just begun their fostering journey, and I was a brand-new social worker brought onto the Family Works team. Having had many years of social work experience coming into Family Works, with Vanessa and Adam, I quickly found myself renewed with excitement and anticipating this new adventure that we just started together!
Fast forward to today, Vanessa and Adam’s approach to fostering and the way they guide their children goes beyond what any book, social worker, or training can teach. Adversity is met with great strength and courage. Achieving whole body wellness is their focus. I couldn’t be prouder of Adam and Vanessa and the foster parents they have become. While some of their growth can be attributed to the fostering experiences they’ve had over the past 6 years, I feel their growth is more accredited to the hard work they have done in their own personal journeys towards health and healing.
Working with this family is both fun and exhilarating. Adam and Vanessa are inspiring and creative. No two days are ever the same. They approach fostering as an adventure that is worth every twist and turn. Their passion for doing activities outdoors and their love of nature offers foster youth an opportunity to decompress, reconnect with nature and get back to the basics of life. Adam and Vanessa also support the use of nontraditional healing methods such as yoga and meditation, homeopathy/naturopathy, herbal medicine, sound bathing, acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage therapy. These offer foster youth a unique experience and a different way to address past trauma and achieve whole mind and body wellness.
I am aware that many foster youth are driven by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of attachment, fear of failure. This couple has been amazing helping foster youth conquer their fears. Adam and Vanessa work as a team, they stay focused and are quick to remove barriers that may hold youth back from reaching their full potential. I’ve seen that once foster youth recognize and feel this kind of love and support, new windows of opportunity open for them. There is strength and beauty in the way the Cooks help foster youth regain confidence and control of their lives. What was once missing, Adam and Vanessa help them find again. For our foster youth, that’s when it becomes less about “the situation” that bought them into care and more about just embracing imperfections, facing challenges with courage, and unlocking their full potential. Vanessa tells her children, “Embrace the journey of healing, for it’s on this path that we uncover the deepest layers of self-discovery and learn to walk in the light of self-love.”
I am honored to work with this family and look forward to many more years together ahead!” – Kimberly