December 2024 | Update 2: The Mini-TSC Site in Our Backyard
Spending a good part of last year (and this year!) transforming our backyard into a Mini-TSC site, foster families started visiting last fall. Since then, we’ve had a fairly consistent flow of families spending time in our backyard … what is now more like a mini-farm/park/community garden/retreat space.
We’ve had individual families visit simply to relax, recharge, and have fun.
We’ve had church foster care ministries host their periodic gatherings back there.
We’ve had foster parents visit to just be alone & be quiet and bask in the awe of creation.
And lastly, our backyard has been the location for court-ordered visits. For example, where siblings who are being fostered in separate homes have come to our backyard to connect in more life-giving ways & spaces than they’ve been able to in the past (i.e., vs, Chuck E. Cheese or a fast-food restaurant).
Not only has it been life-giving to these families, offering our backyard to others has also been life-giving to us … confirming & affirming our call and TSC’s mission & vision. Essentially serving as a TSC pilot site, having foster families visit our backyard has also allowed us to learn a great deal. For example:
What the children seem to enjoy most … and least.
What we could do or add to engage children in creative, healing ways.
Why someone might not want to visit somebody else’s backyard, even if it’s really special.
How and what we could offer foster families & organizations/ministries to get them to our backyard and utilize our outdoor spaces more.
How to better partner with churches & other organizations … on and on.
There’s still a lot to learn, but we’re well on our way! We’re excited for what the next year will bring to foster families through our Mini-TSC sites. We hope to have more families visit our backyard as the seasons change and as we make improvements and add some programming. We also hope to identify and help 3 or so other families or organizations transform their outdoor spaces to offer to foster families in their communities. Think a network of backyards and other outdoor spaces, designed specifically to address the unique needs of foster families.
We’re having conversations with a few families and organizations already. But if you have a “special” backyard that’d you’d like to amp up a bit and do something like we’re doing (or know someone else who might), PLEASE let us know! I’d love to talk to you and see what we can come up with!