200 Babies Helped by Angels Foster Care!
It was late on Thursday afternoon.  Jennifer, Angels Social Worker, had finished a long day of court for one of the Angels children and was just leaving a visit with one of our Angels babies and his mom.  Her phone rang and the familiar number from Child Welfare Services (CWS) flashed on the screen.  As she placed the baby in his car seat and handed him a toy, she grabbed the call.  Jennifer listened to the CWS worker explain that she needed a home immediately for a 3-month old baby girl, Emily, and her sister, Maddy, age 2.  The CWS worker continued, telling Jennifer that the girls were now in her office, tired, confused and with very little belongings -- no extra clothes, no blankets, no toys.  By now it is 6 pm.
 
Jennifer safely returned the Angels baby to his Angels parents and went to work finding a match for these very young siblings. Keeping in mind the specific needs of the girls, Jennifer called Evan and Maria, Angels parents who have been fostering with Angels for over two years.  Maria answered the phone and because they have been well prepared and were ready, said yes to the girls immediately. Jennifer telephoned CWS to let the worker know we had a family who was ready to welcome the girls.
 
Meanwhile, Maria and Evan were busy getting their previously empty nursery ready for the girls.  Sheets were put on the waiting crib and bed, so the girls could sleep together in the same room. Jennifer swung by the Angels office to grab car seats, a diaper bag, handmade blankets, formula, bottles, diapers and pajamas; items all donated to Angels by community churches, Junior League and Lion's Club. Within an hour, the girls were settling into their new home. Maria holding and rocking Emily in the living room while feeding Emily a bottle and Evan in the kitchen with Maddy, giving her some dinner and making her laugh with his animal impersonations. 
 
Emily and Maddy bring the total children served by Angels to 200! 

We are so proud of this wonderful accomplishment, but even more than pride, we are grateful for all the foster parents, friends, volunteers, donors, and staff who helped each and every one of these amazing babies in their own way.  THANK YOU for being with us on this journey of love, caring,and changing the way foster care is delivered to babies and toddlers in Santa Barbara County.  200 lives have been changed for the better and YOU have been a part of it. 

Meichelle Arntz
Executive Director, Angels Foster Care 
The Philip Family

Christy and Johnny first learned about Angels from a 2006 newspaper article about a new start-up foster care agency Angels Foster Care-­in the Santa Barbara News-Press. After speaking with Meichelle Arntz (Angels' founder and Executive Director) about the need for foster parents in our community, and her passion for helping vulnerable children,















they were hooked.  After becoming certified, they joined the first "class" of Angels Foster parents and welcomed baby Annabelle into their home in 2007. Christy and Johnny had two young sons who were excited to have a baby sister in the home and the whole family was thankful for the support of Angels social workers during the two years they fostered Anna leading up to her adoption in 2009.
Christy recalls the most meaningful part of their fostering experience was providing a loving home to a sweet baby that needed a home. She also enjoyed the knowledge she gained about the foster care system, which allowed her to share her story with others and encourage them to explore the idea of becoming a foster parent. Over the last few years, she has had a few friends join the Angels family. It has been an amazing feeling to watch a family grow while providing a much need home to a baby.
 Annabelle, now 9 years old, has a strong, fun-loving and somewhat silly personality and is constantly making the family laugh. She is a sweet, loving and intelligent girl who loves Flamenco dancing, soccer, softball, singing and music. When at home she loves joining in with her brothers in whatever they are doing, or enjoying classic cars with her dad including cruising in his El Camino. With her leadership abilities and strong personality, Christy says Anna's interest in being a police officer could be a great fit. On the other end of the spectrum, Anna's love for animals might translate into a veterinarian career someday. Whatever she chooses, Christy says she will be great!

We had five placements this month--two different sets of sibling placements, both taken by Cindy and Wally of Santa Maria and Rebecca and Rusty of South County took placement of a 3 year old little girl.  

Angels would like to recognize the amazing efforts of Lee and Ashly of North Santa Barbara County as our Foster Parents of the Month.  We are very grateful for the time you spend as foster parents, and for the love and support you have given to young children who need you.  

Special thanks to Cox Communications and Montecito Bank and Trust for creating a wonderful short video promoting Angels Foster Care in honor of the Montecito Bank and Trust Anniversary Grant we recently received.  Anniversary Grants are given based exclusively on MBB&T employees who nominate local non-profits they are involved in.  We are fortunate to have long time and unwavering volunteer support from Michelle Richardson of MBB&T whose devotion to our organization inspired her fellow employees to award us with the generous Anniversary Grant.  To watch this great video click here.  


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Annual Angels Foster Family Picnic
Saturday, September 24th, 3-6pm (*note time change)
happy_kids_cake.jpg
Hans Christian Andersen Park, Solvang

Calling all Angels to join us for our annual family gathering with food, fun, and time to visit with friends new and old. Help us celebrate a big milestone - our 10th Anniversary!!

Thanks to the generous donation of a wonderful BBQ by the Kiwanis Club of the South Coast, we can offer a family friendly afternoon of good food and camaraderie. If you have any friends interested in learning more about foster care, please invite them to attend as our guests! Everyone is welcome at our annual summer/fall get together! Please let us know if you can join us by RSVPing  here.


1st Annual Baby Bottle Campaign! 
October, 2016
In honor and recognition of the 200 babies Angels Foster Care has helped in the past 10 years, we are celebrating our anniversary in October with 200 baby bottle banks that we hope you can help us fill with funds that will help continue our work for 200 more babies! Please help us distribute these 200 banks around our community in October to spread the message about the need for foster families as well as to help raise the money we need to recruit, train, certify, and assist the foster families who are helping babies every day. Maybe you can get the bank filled in a day?  A weekend?  All month long?  Whatever gets collected will be appreciated!  The following are some places the banks might get set up for collection, if you have ideas or contacts that can help, please let us know!
  • Local businesses or offices
  • Churches
  • Scout groups
  • Sports Teams
  • MOMS Clubs
  • Local schools
  • Service Organizations
  • Philanthropic Groups
YES!  I want to help more babies in foster care!  Sign up HERE to help fill a bottle.


Visit our web site for full details on requirements, training, support and adoption. Now is a great time to begin the process in order to take advantage of our Fall Foster Parent Training Series. Note that pre-screening and certain paperwork are required before prospective foster parents may enroll in parent training classes. Please contact Angels as soon as you are ready to begin the process. 

If you can't foster, please consider a  donation.


Toxic Stress

Learning how to cope with adversity is an important part of healthy child development. When we are threatened, our bodies prepare us to respond by increasing our heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones, such as cortisol. When a young child's stress response systems are activated within an environment of supportive relationships with adults, these physiological effects are buffered and brought back down to baseline. The result is the development of healthy stress response systems. However, if the stress response is extreme and long-lasting, and buffering relationships are unavailable to the child, the result can be damaged, weakened systems and brain architecture, with lifelong repercussions.

It's important to distinguish among three kinds of responses to stress: positive, tolerable, and toxic. As described below, these three terms refer to the stress response systems' effects on the body, not to the stressful event or experience itself:
  • Positive stress response is a normal and essential part of healthy development, characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in hormone levels. Some situations that might trigger a positive stress response are the first day with a new caregiver or receiving an injected immunization.
  • Tolerable stress response activates the body's alert systems to a greater degree as a result of more severe, longer-lasting difficulties, such as the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a frightening injury. If the activation is time-limited and buffered by relationships with adults who help the child adapt, the brain and other organs recover from what might otherwise be damaging effects.
  • Toxic stress response can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity-such as physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, exposure to violence, and/or the accumulated burdens of family economic hardship-without adequate adult support. This kind of prolonged activation of the stress response systems can disrupt the development of brain architecture and other organ systems, and increase the risk for stress-related disease and cognitive impairment, well into the adult years.
When toxic stress response occurs continually, or is triggered by multiple sources, it can have a cumulative toll on an individual's physical and mental health-for a lifetime. The more adverse experiences in childhood, the greater the likelihood of developmental delays and later health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression. Research also indicates that supportive, responsive relationships with caring adults as early in life as possible can prevent or reverse the damaging effects of toxic stress response.

Additional Reading:
The JPB Research Network on Toxic Stress, a project of the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child, is committed to reducing the prevalence of lifelong health impairments caused by toxic stress in early childhood. Its work addresses the need to develop rigorous, versatile methods for identifying young children and adults who experience toxic stress.
 
- From Harvard University's "Center for the Developing Child," 

Volunteers Needed!  
As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary throughout 2016, Angels Foster Care has a number of events and activities to celebrate this milestone and shed light on the issue of foster care in our County.  Volunteers are needed throughout the year for various activities and events.  If you have time, talent, or any resources you can share, please contact us and we can let you know how you, your club, your church, or your group of friends or family can help!  In North County contact Kelly or in Santa Barbara, contact Ellen.  You can always give us a call at (805) 884-0012.  
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