Blog
Former Foster Child Adopts Five Kids & Has Fostered for 20 Years: The Story of Richard Kays
Richard “Rusty” Kays has been involved with the foster care system for most of his life. He says he grew up in foster care since he was 3 days old and aged out of the system when he was 18. But he had a consistent foster family. He’s been paying that love forward for the past two decades as a foster parent himself with Seraaj Family Homes, Inc.
Looking to Love: The Story of Charlene Armstead
By Intisar Seraaj Charlene Armstead, a resident of Hueytown, Alabama, was introduced to fostering through her best friend Bernadette Rush, a foster parent for Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. (SFH). Armstead says she was exposed to youth in foster care when visiting Rush’s...
The Nonstop Nurturer: Meet Voncile Jackson Swoopes
Swoopes has been a nurturer since she was a child. She’s the eleventh child of 14. She says she enjoyed having a large family and being surrounded by kids. Swoopes remembers her older siblings being protective of her, just as she was protective of her younger siblings. She recalls her mom and father teaching her and her siblings to always look out for each other, and now she’s doing that for others’ children.
The Past, Present, and the Potential of Using Virtual Gaming as a Clinical Intervention Tool at Seraaj Family Homes, Inc.
In recognition of September 12 being National Video Game Day, here’s an exploration of the company’s past, present, and plans concerning virtual gaming as a clinical intervention tool for its youth in foster care.
Girl With Severe Special Needs Finds Her Forever Family For the Second Time
After bouncing around a few foster care agencies, in December 2013, Jamiah landed in the home of Debra Scott, a foster parent for Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. who’s fostered 32 children since 2000. Scotts lives in Oxford, Alabama.
A Queen Nurtures a King Through Patience & Perseverance: The Story of Elwanda Barnes
By Intisar Seraaj “I decided that I wouldn’t have my own biological children [because] I can just love someone else’s children,” said Elwanda Barnes. Barnes, who’s been a foster parent with Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. in Birmingham, Alabama for about 15 years, says she...
Seraaj Family Homes, Inc. is re-implementing group therapy as a clinical tool
By Intisar Seraaj Have you ever felt more confident expressing yourself when you have a group of friends backing you up, become more self-aware by listening to people dealing with similar issues as you, or come up with a solution that you never thought of by...
Why We All Need to See the New “The Lion King”
Most of us know by now that The Lion King is based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet and was inspired by the Biblical stories of Joseph and Moses—all men who had their fathers ripped away from them, two orphaned forever and only one reunited with his father. But have you thought about how the story of Simba is also a representation of a foster child’s journey in the foster care system?