Help Stacey Become a Foster Parent

If you know my sister Stacey - or even if you just know me - asking for help isn't really what we do. However, as the saying goes, "desperate times...."

Picture it, Ashe County, August 2018 and Stacey started a job as an SRO (School Resource Officer) at Mountain View Elementary. It didn't take long for the school children to realize that what they had in Stacey was an ally, advocate, listening ear, passionate educator and trusted adult.

Two of those school kids were sisters, aged 10 and 9. In November of that year is when Stacey "took them under her wing," purchasing red velvet Christmas dresses for them from Goodwill, making sure that they had clothes, shoes, and food. Stacey would regularly take the entire family of four dinner.

In April of 2019, the girls and their mother disclosed that they were living in a domestic violence situation with the girl's stepdad. Stacey helped them leave the dilapidated and unsanitary home, connected them with a domestic violence shelter and eventually an apartment through a HUD voucher and Rapid Rehousing Program.

Sadly, the next year in the apartment was unstable for the girls as their mother continued in active addiction and had multiple men in and out of their lives. By the time the lease ran out, they lost the apartment and were effectively homeless. They would stay one-to-two weeks at a time with Stacey and other times the girls would couch surf with friends or stay with my other sister, Andrea, and my niece Eva.

However, when my family moved to the Wilmington area a year and a half ago the girls were left without stability and positive role models in their lives. Shortly after my family's move the girls were removed from their neglectful home by the Department of Social Services and placed in a group home setting. Stacey stayed connected with the girls the entire time and I picked them up in late December so that they could spend Christmas with our family at the beach. It was a glorious week.

Now - here we are! Stacey has been granted Kinship custody and is two weeks away from completing her Foster Parent classes. The girls have been in multiple group homes for a year now and have hit their limit.

However, the foster placement system is three months behind in Pender County and Stacey needs help to formally take custody and be able to financially support the three of them by the time that the school year ends this month.

Stacey is currently living with our parents to assist with in-home healthcare and help for our Dad who is deteriorating from Parkinson's while also working full time (and overtime) as an SRO for Pender County Sheriff's Department. She is struggling to afford an apartment for the three of them until she officially becomes a certified foster care parent and can receive a stipend from the state for their care.

Stacey has identified an apartment - $1900 a month - and needs help for two months' rent + $1000 for clothes, food and hygiene supplies for the girls - now ages 15 and 14.

From Stacey: "I am not someone who would ever ask for financial assistance from other people; however, for these girls and their future I am happy to put my pride away and ask for whatever it takes to give them a stable, happy, and loving home (and family) for the first time in their lives.