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Date: 7/5/2022
HOLYOKE – Child fostering resource team All Our Kids Inc. is gearing up to host their sixth annual Summer Gathering event on July 10 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
All Our Kids is an organization that creates community for the purpose of mutual support, raising awareness about the foster care system in the region and engaging the community to become involved in a wide variety of ways. Founder and Executive Director Dr. Marianna Litovich started the group in 2017 to establish a resource hub for families interested in foster care. The organization is an outgrowth of the Facebook group she initially created to help foster families get to know each other.
Litovich said the first Summer Gathering in 2017 had about 62 people in attendance and since have seen up to multiple hundreds of people come together for food and festivities and letting kids and families hang out and get to know each other.
“It was very clear that something like this was really needed on an on going basis as opposed to just every once in a while,” Litovich said.
This year’s Summer Gathering will be in dual locations at Holyoke Heritage Park and the Children’s Museum to give children and families plenty of options for fun during the event. Snacks, drinks, playground and spray park accessibility will all be offered at the event alongside the Children’s Museum availability.
The Summer Gathering remains a highlight event for the nonprofit. Six years after the organization’s founding, have grown to also host four to eight events a year. Litovich said the need for the work done by All Our Kids is important for establishing connections and giving a community to what can be a lonely task as a foster parent.
“It can be a pretty lonely and isolating experience being a foster parent because folks around you who are not part of that community really don’t understand what its all about,” Litovich said.
She added the only organization that is in charge of foster care is the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), and their role is to support family reunification when possible and make sure children have some sort of permanency either through adoption or guardianship.
DCF’s role, Litovich explained, is really not focused on creating community and helping foster families support each other. This is where All Our Kids come in as they not only help create this community but help families understand the child welfare system and how to navigate it.
Litovich said gatherings like the Summer Gathering serve as an opportunity not just for social connection but to share resources and information and make connections among families so they can support one another through the journey.
The Summer Gathering is one of the four annual events from All Our Kids that is just for foster and adoptive families, not the general public. This event is free for foster families wishing to attend. Litovich expects this year to be a traditional event like years before.
“We have never had it at Holyoke Heritage Park, we usually do a spray park and picnic but this year we’ve partnered with the Holyoke Children’s Museum to make the venue available for families in addition to everything else that Heritage Park has to offer,” Litovich said. “I am hoping it is a good weather day and just a great opportunity for our families to come together and continue to connect.”
Litovich added the coronavirus pandemic was challenging for everyone but especially for foster families due to the isolation caused by social distancing and staying home more often. She said they are still trying to work their way out of the COVID-19-related rut and hope to get a good crowd for the event after one year being canceled and another year of a more toned-down version of the Summer Gathering.
Litovich sees All Our Kids as the village everyone wants to belong to for that sense of community and support system to help them make it through the challenges of the role.
“I believe that what we do allows families to continue to be engaged and prevent burnout and allows families to provide that safe haven for all the children who need it, for as long as they need it,” Litovich said.
Litovich said All Our Kids events are just one of many programming areas they have to support foster families and to engage the general public to get involved.
“Foster families are on the front lines of doing this work but there is a place at the table for everybody in our communities to become involved in child welfare,” Litovich added.
This year’s event is being sponsored by the Mount Water Fund, a family foundation that focuses on supporting the Holyoke community.
Advance registration is appreciated, but not required. Registration is available online at www.FosteringAOK.org/events.