Regional Support

Mentors help you by providing emotional support, sharing their experiences, and connecting you to regional and state resources.  They are experienced caregivers who are familiar with the supports and services available in your region. Mentors are generalists who can help all types of caregivers statewide find the resources and support they need for successful placements. Mentors do not  offer legal, medical, or mental health advice.

Deshanna Brown

CaRES Mentor Region: 3, 4, & Culturally Conscious Caregiving Specialist, Caregivers and Children of Color
dbrown27@uw.edu

Deshanna has been working in the Foster Care field in various roles for six-plus years. She has been a visit supervisor, a case manager, and is a current volunteer Child Appointed Advocate in Pierce county. Most recently, she worked at Amara as a Foster Care Specialist. Along with these roles within the system, she is also a kinship caregiver. Deshanna’s passion for working with children and families in foster care comes from her drive to help every child find permanency. She loves helping families find the resources they need to help a child in their home thrive and helping foster parents and kinship caregivers navigate the world of foster care. 

Rae Cook

rcook3@uw.edu

Rae and her family have been a licensed foster and adoptive home for seven years, and were able to adopt their son in winter 2018. Rae began volunteering to speak on foster parent panels and with her local foster community groups. She was also able to be one of the original satellite families that formed a Mockingbird Family model in her area. She has dedicated herself to building a community of support to all foster families.

Stephanie Reid

sdreid@uw.edu

Stephanie and her family have been fostering since 2018 but were introduced to kinship care in 2014.  She has worked in communication for the last 15 years and holds a Bachelors degree in Social Science. She also worked in a foster care receiving shelter, as a volunteer grief group facilitator, and is active in advocacy for rare disease research and support. Stephanie has experience caring for medically fragile children, kinship care, transracial adoption, and child loss. As the wife of a retired veteran, she understands the ins and outs of military life. Stephanie is passionate about supporting children in the foster care system as well as their families and understands the value of foster parents being seen and heard members of the team.
Stephanie is a mother through biology, adoption, and foster care. Most of her free time is spent with her husband and four daughters.

Supportive Facilitated Discussion Groups

Topic-based conversations bring caregivers with similar needs together to find solutions while earning training credit. Caregivers’ knowledge is the foundation for shared problem-solving and self-advocacy skills.
Check the calendar below for current listings or, for a complete list of our supportive facilitated discussion groups, click here.

Training Credit of the Month

Fostering Across Race, Ethnicity, and Culture: Join us for a special session of this topic support group! The conversation will be specifically tailored to Black caregivers and caregivers of Black children and youth.
Welcoming a child into your home, even temporarily, means accepting and affirming their whole selves. When a child has a different racial, ethnic, or cultural background than yours, it can be challenging to know the best ways to properly care for their unique physical, spiritual, and cultural needs. 
During this facilitated discussion, caregivers will share their racial, ethnic, or cultural perspective and develop strategies for meeting the needs of a child who has a different background or perspective. The discussion will also include some tips and tricks for finding resources, maintaining community connections, and addressing biases in the community. Register here!

Drop-in Discussions

Most of these are available to foster and kinship families, some require proof of caregiver status, usually in the form of a foster care license. This is noted whenever we are aware of it. The Alliance CaRES program does not support or endorse any of the listed items; they are compiled for your convenience. We make every effort to keep these up-to-date, if you know of a correction or an item not listed, please let us know by emailing notifycares@uw.edu

Check out these places in your area that offer discounts or free opportunities or items to families in the care system from CaRES Free and Discounted Resources for Foster and Kinship Caregivers (Click Here to Download the Full Guide): 

Blue Skies for Children: Sponsor enrichment activities like academic and educational services plus Little Wishes and Winter Warm Up programs.
Clothes for Kids: Children who attend school in Snohomish County or the Northshore School District can shop the clothing closet.
Foster Closet: Provides free clothing, toys, childcare items to families caring for foster children in Whatcom, Island, Skagit, and Snohomish counties.
Foster Hearts: Provides personal items and life enhancing opportunities for children in foster care.
Furniture for Foster Families: Offers support with furniture for foster families. Email curttrudy@gmail.com
Kids First Services: Island County organization dedicated to filling unmet needs of local area children in foster care. 
Skagit Children’s Museum: $3.00/person, up to 4 people. *Also available to families outside the region. 
Snohomish Aquatic Center: Swimming lessons scholarships available, between 20% to 50% off. 

The Alliance CaRES program does not support or endorse any of the listed items; they are compiled for your convenience. We make every effort to keep these up-to-date, if you know of a correction or an item not listed, please let us know by emailing notifycares@uw.edu
Check out the full guide with even more Free and Discounted Resources for Foster and Kinship Caregivers:
Boys & Girls Club: Members ages 6 to18 years-old get a no-cost Boys & Girls Club basic membership, covered by Coordinated Care. 
DCYF Who to Contact Resources for Foster Parents and Kinship Caregivers: Knowing who to contact for different needs can be really hard for foster parents and kinship caregiver in a large child welfare system. This guide lets caregivers know who to contact about different topics.
DSHS Reduced Cost Service Guide: The Reduced Cost Services Guide highlights a variety of products and services available in or near Washington state that are offered at reduced cost for people meeting certain income levels. 
Fosterful: Through trauma-informed care practices, provide nurturing environments and basic necessities to kids entering foster care. Located across the state and expanding.
Foster Parents Association of Washington State (FPAWS): Support and advocacy organization representing adoptive/foster/kinship and birth parent voices at the Regional, State, and National levels. They offer a multitude of supportive services, trainings, and opportunities. 
IFoster: A free, members-only community supporting children in or at-risk of entry into child welfare, to access the resources and opportunities they need to become successful, independent adults.
Imagination Library of Washington: Enroll your child online. In 6-8 weeks, your child will receive their first book in the mail, ‘The Little Engine That Could’. Books arrive in the mail monthly until your child’s 5th birthday.
Treehouse: Offers many programs to youth across the state including educational support, holiday gifts, driver’s assistance, a clothing closet and just in time funding program.

CaRES Statewide Mentors & Specialist

Mentors and Specialists can help you by providing emotional support, sharing their experiences, and connecting you to regional and state resources. Specialists can help caregivers by providing emotional support, sharing their experiences, and connecting them to resources.  They have an area of dedicated knowledge that may be especially important for a caregiver looking for understanding.  Mentors and Specialists do not  offer legal, medical, or mental health advice.

Camille Hereth

CaRES Trauma-Informed Caregiving Specialist

Check back shortly for updated information on our newest Caregiving Specialist. 

Christina Urtasun

CaRES Statewide Mentor
Curtasun@uw.edu

Christina has been a licensed foster parent, in Oak Harbor, for twenty years. She has been involved in many aspects of the foster care community including providing liaison services with Fostering Together program for 13 years and being a co-trainer with the Alliance for Child Welfare. Christina is excited to join the Alliance CaRES program as a mentor so she can continue supporting and encouraging families as well as help them navigate the system. Christina has four sons and one daughter. In her spare time, Christina loves to be hiking, camping, reading, and spending time with her family.

Deshanna Brown

CaRES Mentor Region 3, 4, & Culturally Conscious Caregiving Specialist, Caregivers and Children of Color
dbrown27@uw.edu

Deshanna has been working in the Foster Care field in various roles for six-plus years. She has been a visit supervisor, a case manager, and is a current volunteer Child Appointed Advocate in Pierce county. Most recently, she worked at Amara as a Foster Care Specialist. Along with these roles within the system, she is also a kinship caregiver. Deshanna’s passion for working with children and families in foster care comes from her drive to help every child find permanency. She loves helping families find the resources they need to help a child in their home thrive and helping foster parents and kinship caregivers navigate the world of foster care.

Emmanuel Camarillo

Spanish Speaking Community Specialist
Ec2643@uw.edu

Emmanuel Camarillo holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Washington Tacoma. His research focused on understanding the connection between the training that therapeutic foster parents receive and placement disruption. In addition, his research provided recommendations to foster care agencies looking to retain skilled foster parents and increase the quality and stability of children’s experience in therapeutic foster care programs. Prior to working in child welfare, Emmanuel worked in higher education for six years. Emmanuel and his fiance Francisco have been foster parents for the last three years. He has volunteered at The Foster Closet in Bellingham since 2018. He also serves as a board member of Foster Hearts, an organization that strives to improve the lives of children in foster care, ensuring each child has their basic needs met and providing life-enhancing opportunities. Most recently, Emmanuel was selected as a 1624 Region 3 representative to serve as a liaison between caregivers and DCYF.

Francisco Javier Contreras Alvarez

Spanish Speaking Community Specialist
Fc886670@uw.edu

Francisco is currently a licensed foster parent. Francisco and his partner have fostered over 13 children and youth in their home and are currently fostering a 14 yr old boy for about 2 years now. Francisco obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services with a minor in Spanish from Western Washington University. Francisco currently holds the position as case manager which brings skills and knowledge working with and for families by supporting and providing sources to help them reach their goals and meet their needs. Francisco is also a volunteer for the Foster Closet in Bellingham since 2018 and serves as a board member of Fosters Hearts, an organization that strives to improve the lives of children in foster care, ensuring each child has their basic needs met and providing life-enhancing opportunities. Francisco is passionate about supporting and advocating for marginalized and underrepresented communities where families and children from these communities can reach their potential by providing resources to further the knowledge and education of the community.

Matthew Sam-Thornhill

CaRES Culturally Conscious Caregiving Specialist, Indian Children

Check back shortly for updated information on our newest Culturally Conscious Caregiving Specialist. 

Nathan LaChine
CaRES Mentor Region 5, 6, & LGBTQIA+ Community Specialist
nlachine@uw.edu

Nathan has been a therapeutic foster parent with Community Youth Services serving BRS Youth for the past 16 years. He has held a variety of roles within the foster care community and has been a strong advocate within the LGBTQ2IA+ community. Through his teaching and public speaking, Nathan hopes to elevate and provide a voice for system involved families.

Sarah Rachael Edwards-Strode

CaRES Mentor Region 5 & Medically Complex Caregiving Specialist
Srstrode@uw.edu

Sarah and her husband David have been licensed foster parents for nearly 15 years. Before changing her goals to pursuing an education in nursing, Sarah was a ballet director for 20 years. While originally the Strode’s were focused on caring for drug affected infants, their concentration morphed into a focus and advocacy for medically complex and medically fragile foster children. The Strode’s have 8 children. Two biological, four adopted through foster care, and currently two medically fragile foster children. Sarah has a passion for advocating for the unseen and unheard. She specializes in burn survivor care as well as caring for those with intellectual and chronic illnesses and diagnosis. Sarah is thrilled to be part of Alliance CaRES and working along side other families wanting to care for the medically complex foster child as well as those just starting their foster care journey.

Sylvia Cardenas

CaRES Mentor Region 2 & Spanish Speaking Community Specialist
sylviac1@uw.edu

Sylvia obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration through Central State University.  She has lived in Eastern Washington all her life and really enjoys the large variety of outdoor activities. Sylvia and her husband became kinship caregivers in 2017.  This experience lit the fire in them to do more and both decided to become licensed foster parents. She has a passion for helping others understand the need for foster parents in our communities. She noticed there was a need to assist limited English speaking individuals who wanted to become foster parents. This is when she began to serve as a foster parent recruiter/mentor for monolingual Spanish speaking individuals. She understands not all individuals can become foster parents, but there is always a way to support our children in foster care.

Trey Rabun

CaRES LGBTQIA+ Community Specialist
trabun@uw.edu

Would you like to have one of our wonderful mentors reach out to you for individualized support? Send us an email or leave a voice mail with your contact information, a sentence or two about what general areas you need support in, and if you need language support or interpretation.  

If you are sending a referral on behalf of a caregiver, please also let us know if they are expecting a call from us. Mentors will respond within 48 hours.

alliancecares@uw.edu or call 206-221-4913

If you are a caregiver going through an investigation, be sure to visit our page on support for allegations and investigations.