EARLY YEARS: CarePortal marks 5th anniversary of helping Roanoke Valley families
Roanoke has the highest number of children in foster care in Virginia, largely due to poverty
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - CarePortal just marked its fifth anniversary of helping families in crisis.
“We have served 4,000 children in the Roanoke area, and met over 2,000 requests. A lot of times, all a family needs is some material item or some extra support to be able to not have their children separated, not have to -- the kids don’t even have to go into foster care,” says CarePortal Regional Manager Kimberly Tulou.
But if they do, the technology-driven platform offers support for foster families, adoptive placements, and other services.
More than 50 churches in the Roanoke Valley help with CarePortal, along with several schools and other community partners.
“A lot of requests that we meet are just like, a child doesn’t have a bed. And so, a CarePortal church or connection, community responder even can provide that bed,” says Tulou.
A mom of three, who asked WDBJ7 to protect her identity, knows firsthand the important work CarePortal does.
“I have three babies. I was lugging car seats around. I was having to pay for Ubers to take them to daycare and also go to work, and that was, like, getting to be very expensive. I was basically spending my whole paycheck just on that,” she says.
That all changed when two people from CarePortal- involved churches stepped in to help.
“They showed up to the house. They brought Uber cards, and they brought some Pampers for my kids, too,” she says.
Eventually, CarePortal provided two thousand dollars, so that she was able to buy a vehicle of her own.
“They have helped me in so many ways. It’s not even just helping with the things through CarePortal, Because these people are actually like in my life. I kind of consider them family at this point.”
Mostly, she says CarePortal is about meeting people where they are.
“There was never no judgment. They never, like, looked down on me for my situation and they kind of helped to quickly intervene and help,” she says.
If you’d like to sign up to help provide needed items or resources, or to become part of the CarePortal community, please click here.
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