FOSTER CARE
The Face of Foster Care in Columbus, Mr. Travis Porter.
“I recently received a message from one of our foster families about the work being done in Columbus,” said Richard Graziano, President and CEO of The Village Network.“We get letters all the time from our clients, but this one was different. It spoke to the purpose of our mission.” In the message, our foster parent shared, “I just wanted to let you know other foster parents, and I appreciate The Village Network. This is a great agency to be a part of; it’s great to know that foster parents and kids are important.” This message was from Helena, a Foster Parent who joined The Village Network a year and a half ago and has been working with our “Face of Foster Care in Columbus,” Travis Porter. “Helena has been the gift that keeps on giving,” according to Travis; when she transferred to us, she only had one pause point, our pay differ- ential. Now that she has seen The Village Network’s difference between our wrap-around services and our crisis team, we give her something equally valuable: the support and resources needed to foster a child. Travis feels that working in social work is a “calling” and “this is where he is meant to be.” He loves to give back and be impactful in his career, which is evident in all who describe him. His passion is fed by his mother, Ella Louise Porter, who instilled in him many values, one of which resonated with him “To change the world is to love a child,” and she modeled that behavior for Travis. Travis has 25 years of experience and began with TVN as a part- time employee in several roles including a Behavior Management Specialist in our Reception Center and for our Foster Care, and he also was an Outpatient Mentor for our youth. He worked in these roles for 13 years before making foster care in Columbus his full-time focus in 2021. Porter chose foster care as his home because “The Village Network is like working with a large group of colleagues who are like family.”
According to Porter, he had to garner “trust, support, connection, and resources to build relationships with each family.” This includes “our wrap-around services for our foster care families. It is not what we do, but what we provide,” added Porter. “We increase contact from our clinical team, add Community Psychiatric Supportive Treatment (CPST) or case managers, and link staff to do proactive work with youth who are struggling. This is from simple things like our staff visiting when there is no crisis and engaging with the youth as a service baseline, thus building rapport with the child. So, if the child enters a situation, the crisis team can step in and process with the youth as the trust is already established.” This is crucial in working through challenges, stress, or high anxiety with our kids. “Our team and family atmosphere sets us apart from other [agencies]. We try to go the extra mile to assist and support the parents, while giving a variety of support. We assist with transportation, scheduling appointments, linking to additional services, and program stabiliza¬- tion. We walk alongside our foster parents to support them in any way we can. Our team will provide coaching to the parents as well. All to improve the lives of our kids,” says Porter. Travis is proud to partner with an “outstanding team,” including Mr. Stanley Gates (Mr. Stan), the Crisis Team Supervisor; Kyra Holling- sworth, Clinical Therapist; Breonna Overholt, Clinical Therapist; Durethea Odom, who is working on becoming a Clinical Therapist; Amanda Robertson, the Program Supervisor; Tristann Blankenship, the Clinical Therapist; and Sandra McIntyre, the Administrative Assistant. Many other staff assist at The Village Network to get our families prepared to foster a child. In her message, Helena also stated that her kids “love Mr. Stan because he is always willing to help in any way he can.” She also gives credit to Sharon and Sandra, who work in our offices and provide seamless service with the administration side of fostering a child and helping with everything from paperwork to getting kids to appointments. Helena has two foster children in her home. She is continuing her journey to help them build brighter futures, including exploring op- tions for continuing education this fall at a historically black college or university for one of her kids. Helena closed her message, “I am happy I chose to come to TVN. I feel like part of an extended family. The people I’ve worked with, in- cluding you [Travis], always exceed my expectations.” We agree, Travis, keep up the excellent work building brighter futures! 6 THE VILLAGE NETWORK . SPRING / SUMMER 2023
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