A Day in the Life of a Foster Care Coordinator
- Encourage
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Kaytlyn Lumpp, Foster Care Coordinator, shares a day in the life of a foster care coordinator working for Encourage Foster Care.
Every day, week and month can be different.
A "typical day" as a foster care coordinator would be going to 2-3 home visits, interacting with the children placed in the home, talking to the foster parents and making sure everyone's needs are being met.
Our main focus is to not only make sure the children’s needs are being met but to also support, love and encourage our foster parents. Our foster parents are incredible blessings, and we want to make sure they feel valued and loved every single day.
What we do...
Foster care coordinators are the liaison between the foster family and the county. Foster care coordinators attend court hearings, family team meetings, semiannual reviews and any other meetings the counties might request. We send out monthly progress reports to the counties regarding how the child was the previous month and also send all the medical forms for the child from the previous month. Foster care coordinators can also refer children to counseling through Encompass Christian Counseling, one of our family of ministries.
We work alongside the foster parents to help them understand monthly paperwork and remind them of when things are due. We work closely with county workers to make sure referrals are made on their end. We build a strong rapport with the county workers, supervisors and GAL’s to make sure the decisions that are being made are in the best interest of the child. We also advocate for our children and families every day. I try to schedule two days during the week to just document everything from home visits, emails, phone calls, and any other paperwork that is due.
Challenges and why I love my job...
The biggest challenge is to advocate for our kids when a decision is made from the county that we might not fully agree with. During this time tensions can be high, and our foster parents can be processing a lot of emotions. As foster care coordinators we need to be there for them to help process everything and give them extra support, love, and care.
Now why I love my job…
Every day can be different and what is on my schedule one day can change in a second, but our jobs as foster care coordinators are one of the most rewarding jobs out there. I love going to my home visits when I am instantly greeted at the door with hugs from my kids on my caseload - that is probably the highlight of my day/week! I love being able to feed, snuggle, and rock to sleep some of the babies I have on my caseload. I also love being able to celebrate with the kids when they accomplish something that they may not have thought they could have! I love celebrating with foster parents when the children are able to accomplish a goal they set or a goal that the foster parents might have set for themselves.
I love being the face and voice of Encourage and being able to get out there and support our families and children with showing their value and worth through Christ every day!
About the Author
Kaytlyn Lumpp, BS
Foster Care Coordinator
I have always had a passion for helping families and kiddos and am thrilled to be working with foster families through Encourage. I am excited to build rapport with my families and kiddos and help them in any way that I can. Christ has always played an important role in my life, and I am thankful to be able to show our families and kiddos their worth in Christ.
