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When people think about foster care, they often imagine the moment a child enters a new home.

But long before that moment, there are families working every day to stay together.

Many mothers navigating recovery through Family Based Safety Services (FBSS) and family drug court are doing the hardest work of their lives. They are rebuilding stability, working through trauma, and learning how to parent while navigating recovery.

And they are doing it while caring for their children.

Caseworker Jennifer Maddux works closely with families walking this journey. She sees firsthand how much courage it takes for parents to choose recovery while trying to rebuild their lives.

"They are extremely resilient," she says. "They are loving, they are compassionate, they are hard working."

But resilience alone doesn't remove the practical barriers these parents face.

Many families enter treatment with very little.

"Parents who decide they want to be in drug court and go to treatment literally have like a bag of clothes and maybe two outfits for their kid."

What Essential Items Make Possible

For the next 90 days, these mothers are building stability and structure — while caring for their children — and choosing recovery one day at a time. Treatment centers often provide parenting classes, therapy, and support services that help parents begin rebuilding their lives.

But basic needs still matter.

Clothing. Shoes. Diapers. Hygiene supplies.

Through our EQUIP pillar, Foster Village helps meet these needs, allowing families to focus on healing.

Jennifer says these items carry a deeper meaning than many people realize.

"The stuff that they get when they go to treatment gives them hope," she explains. "It helps them kind of push through the hard part of having to go to some strange place with their kid for 90 days."

Choosing Recovery, Every Day

"They have to wake up every single day and make the decision that I'm not going to use today."

And yet, these mothers keep showing up, for their children and for themselves.

Jennifer says one of the biggest misunderstandings people have about parents navigating addiction and recovery is the tendency to reduce them to a single part of their story.

"People just see the person that struggles with substance use," she says. "But there's so much more to that."

Behind every parent is a complex story, one often shaped by trauma, generational cycles, and limited opportunities. Many of the parents working through recovery are determined to break those cycles for their children.

The Village Shows Up

Jennifer sees them show up every single day. She knows their names, their kids' names, the weight they're carrying, and the courage it takes to keep going anyway.

When this village of support equips them with clothing, shoes, and diapers, it's one small way we say: "We see you. We believe you can do this. You don't have to do it alone."

To stock our shelves with the items we most need to EQUIP families, visit our wish list here.