Following successful visitation room makeovers in Middletown, New Haven and Meriden, Fostering Family Hope Inc. (FFH), a local non-profit that supports the foster care community, is set to unveil its fourth visitation room makeover for the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in Norwich, Connecticut. 

With just under 4,000 children in the foster care system in Connecticut, FFH is working together with DCF to re-envision the visitation areas within DCF offices where children and families come together for their weekly visits during separation. 

The goal of FFH’s Visitation Room Program is to provide a welcoming, supportive, and interactive environment for children and families to give each family the best opportunity to succeed. By creating living room - style environments, children and parents have a greater opportunity to bond and build positive & healthy relationships with one another under the guidance/supervision of DCF. This decreases stress and additional trauma for children, helps families feel supported by DCF and foster families, and allows for supports needed for biological families to better be identified during visitation. 

 

WHAT: Unveiling of five new visitation rooms for children and families as part of Fostering Family Hope’s Visitation Room Program. 

WHERE:  2 Courthouse Square, Norwich, CT  06360

WHEN: Tuesday, September 13th, 12 pm-1:30 pm ET

WHO: The founders of Fostering Family Hope, Inc. and representatives from Norwich Department of Children and Families will provide tours of the five new visitation rooms. Local artists from CT Murals and the Norwich Street Collective who contributed to the makeovers will also be on site.

CONTACT(S): Megan Pearson & Erin Johnston  Fosteringfamilyhope@gmail.com

 

Creating spaces for infants and teens, FFH is also able to design rooms specifically for kids with sensory needs as well as for families looking to enjoy meals together or celebrate birthdays. Partnering with CT Murals and local artists to paint each room, as well as reaching out to community businesses and organizations to invest in the families through financial and physical donations, FFH creates more than just a new visitation center – it builds a community of support for every child in care in each of the offices they enter. Ultimately, the makeover of these rooms can help bring families back together. 

 

ABOUT FOSTERING FAMILY HOPE:

Established in 2021, Fostering Family Hope (FFH) is an organization driven by a strong foundation of support, community involvement, and physical & financial donations to meet the needs of the foster community that too often go unnoticed. FFH supports the local foster community through care bags, a foster closet, special events, foster & adoptive family support groups, and the enrichment of family visitation areas throughout Connecticut. With programs designed to support and encourage children in care as well as their families (foster, kinship, adoptive or biological) FFH works to empower kids in care and bring the foster community together. To learn more and to donate, visit www.fosteringfamilyhope.org