Together at Thanksgiving
Children come to Palmer Home for a variety of reasons, but our ultimate goal is always to reunite them with their biological families – a process known as reunification – when it’s safe and healthy to do so. God wired us to want to be with our biological families, and we respect those bonds at Palmer Home while ensuring biological caregivers are in a position to be reunified with their children. Over the course of the last year alone we have seen 28 Palmer Home families reunited!
“When you support Palmer Home, you’re not only helping children, you’re also preserving families, just as God intended,” says Drake Bassett, Palmer Home President and CEO.
One of those 28 families is Jake and Gracie’s. Jake was eight years old, and Gracie was a toddler, when they came to Palmer Home.
Faced with devastating circumstances, their parents made the difficult decision to place Jake and Gracie in our campus care program. During a time of much stress, uncertainty, and change, being able to stay in a supportive home, together, provided consistency and immeasurable security.
This support and security allowed Jake and Gracie to simply be children—to play, learn and grow in a stable environment with a whole team of caring adults dedicated to their best interest and to their whole family’s well-being.
Over time, as Jake and Gracie grew, their parents did too! Our staff partnered with their parents, working closely to assist them in gaining solid employment and strengthening the parenting skills needed to reunify and thrive as a family. After months of hard work, prayer and coaching, Jake, Gracie, and their parents are all together again, and they are doing very well!
“Palmer Home exists to help children and their families, like Jake and Gracie’s, when they need it most,” says Bassett. “Reunification is always our priority: we strive to honor the power of family and seek to restore children to their families when it’s safe and healthy to do so. However, while reunification is a priority, the greater goal is to help these families thrive after reunification. Because of this, our team continues to stay in touch with families to ensure that everyone has the supports they need in order to succeed.”
This Thanksgiving, Jake and Gracie’s family will be together. It’s hard to image what Thanksgiving this year might look like for them had it not been for Palmer Home. With your support, we can help more children like Jake and Gracie – just as we have for the past 126 years.
