Tommy Andrade’s mantra is: “If you want to make an impact, you don’t have to change the whole world. You can plant a seed in your own community.” For him, this means supporting kids and families in foster care. Tommy is a barber and will offer free haircuts to kids in foster and kinship care
Category: Amara Announcements
The Power of Community-Centered Program Design
Amara has launched several new programs to serve kids and families lately. One of the key “ingredients” in these new programs is the wisdom of people with lived experience. Their input infused each program so we could find ways to best serve kids and families, and ways to reduce possible barriers to reaching the programs
Amara Presents to Pierce County Council Human Services Committee
We love being in community and sharing about our work for kids and families. Nicole Mazen, Amara’s Chief Program and Policy Officer, and Julie Hoffman, our Pierce County Early Childhood Court Program Coordinator, recently presented about our programs and impact in Pierce County to the Human Services Committee at the Pierce County Council. Amara and
Amara Opens New Family Resource Center
Essential concrete goods and helpful information about local resources can be difficult for families to find. Last week Amara opened our new Family Resource Center in our Tacoma office. On our first day we provided groceries for a family and provided housing resources to help keep another family in their home. By providing families with
Amara Launches Parent FOCUS Program
This week, in partnership with the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Amara launches a new program to strengthen families in the Aberdeen and Spokane areas and help prevent the need for foster care. Our Parent FOCUS (Family Outreach, Connections, and Unconditional Support) program supports families who have been referred by the state for
Kin Connections to Serve Kinship Families in King and Pierce Counties
One of the new programs Amara is launching this fall will directly help kinship families in our King and Pierce county communities. Kin Connections will help kinship caregivers connect to the resources and supports they need to parent relative children, many of whom often arrive in their caregivers’ homes with little notice. To help ease
When Meeting the Needs of Kids and Families Means Changing Course: Closing Our Emergency Sanctuary Program
Amara will forever be grateful for the love and support of our King and Pierce county communities in running our Emergency Sanctuaries that gave kids entering foster care a gentle landing. We have no doubt that for the kids that passed through the Sanctuaries, we made those first couple of days in foster care a
Meet the Amara Kinship & LGBTQIA+ Support Team!
Our incredible team brings years of professional and personal experience in supporting kids and families experiencing the child welfare system. Trey Rabun, Associate Director of Kinship and Community Services Trey is the Associate Director of Kinship and Community Services at Amara. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Hampton University, a master’s degree in Human Development and
Amara On TV
Amara was featured May 22 on the Me TV/Washington & Me Community Affairs program that aired on select television channels throughout western Washington. The half-hour program highlighted how Amara has learned and grown over our 101-year history. We started as an adoption agency decades ago and are now leaning into supporting connections and partnerships between