A special report issued by nonprofit Foster Success and Indianapolis-based research firm Chamberlin Dunn in 2020 showed that Indiana is home to more than 31,000 foster children, including 17,000 school-age foster youth.

Children in foster care, as well as children of adoptive parents, often need additional support, according to Mallory Joest of Westfield, founder of Mallory’s Mission. The organization, which includes educators, therapists, leaders, business experts and adoptees, provides free services to families. The goal is to provide Indiana foster and adoptive families with therapeutic and educational resources that help ensure that vulnerable children are placed in safe, stable environments where they can thrive.

“We provide trauma-informed education to Indiana foster and adoptive families at no cost,” Joest said. “We partner with Indiana Department of Child Services to provide Indiana foster parents, regardless of city, a face-to-face training hour when they participate in our monthly workshops.”

Joest said the goal of Mallory’s Mission is to bridge the gap between more traditional mental health services and a more specialized approach, working with families of foster and adopted youth, but also with adult adoptees and former foster children.

“Our goal is to center the voices that have lived experiences to make sure our topics are relevant and responsive to the unique challenges that this community faces,” she said.

Trauma-informed services mean foster parents are educated on the types of trauma that children in the foster care system have endured because of their individual circumstances.

“Our first workshop was understanding the impact that early parental separation has on brain development. A lot of people assume that when you adopt a baby it’s kind of like a clean slate, and that’s not necessarily the case,” Joest said. “We believe in addressing the issues at hand, but we also believe in championing for change. We’re committed to providing the support to foster and adoptive families that they need, but we also advocate for family preservation.”

Mallory’s Mission partners with licensed mental health provider Brooke Randolph for workshops. Joest said Randolph, who owns Counseling at The Green House in Indianapolis, understands the importance of prioritizing adoption competency, recognizing its importance in bridging the gap between traditional mental health services and a more specialized approach.

Joest said the inspiration for Mallory’s Mission is personal.

“Like most nonprofits, there’s a story behind our origins,” she said. “I’m an intercountry transracial adoptee and a former foster, now, adoptive mom. So, my world has been touched deeply by foster care and adoption. This work is more than just a passion to me, because it’s personal. Becoming a foster/adoptive mom has forced me to confront some of the very things that cause me discomfort regarding my own adoption, which made me realize I have to address my own trauma if I want to help my daughter navigate hers.”

Joest also said that while there is a great need for foster homes in Indiana, she would counsel prospective foster or adoptive parents to proceed with caution. Joest said she discourages people from fostering or adopting until they have educated themselves on the complex child welfare system and the needs of those children, from children removed from homes for a wide variety of reasons to unaccompanied refugee minors in Indiana who need assistance. It’s that piece of education that Mallory’s Mission aims to fill for prospective adoptive and foster parents.

Mallory’s Mission will host its next workshop, Food Fights: Nurturing and Feeding Foster and Adoptive Families, July 26 via Zoom.