Voices of Kinship Caregivers winners announced For 18 years, FESS has coordinated the statewide contest, Voices of Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives. This year, the contest was expanded to include a new element, Voices of Kinship Caregivers. Two entries from those submitted by kinship caregivers were chosen for recognition, although all entries were included in a book that includes [...]
May 18 is proclaimed as Kinship Caregiver Day in WA Since 1988, May has been designated nationally as Foster Care Month. But Washington also chooses one day of the month to recognize kinship caregivers, relatives caring for children who can no longer live in their birth homes. This year, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has proclaimed May 18 as Kinship Caregiver [...]
New LGBTQ+ Parent Support Group Being Formed by Bob Partlow An advisory group is putting the final touches on a support group for LGBTQ+ parents, to be called “Parenting Proud.” The group will meet for two hours once a month beginning in January, said Sandy Hurd, a child therapist in Olympia who coordinates the group meetings. The group, which is supported [...]
Helping get people vaccinated by Bob Partlow For months, Family Education and Support Services has been helping the community get vaccinated against Covid. FESS has had vaccination clinics at its Tumwater location and in other locations throughout the community in partnership with organizations like CHOICE Regional HealthCare Network, local tribes, The Heritage Distillery and the Thurston County Department of Health. FESS [...]
Jody Smetak Hired as Director of Education for Family Education & Support Services. By Bob Partlow For several years, Family Education & Support Services (FESS) has wanted to hire a person to oversee its many parenting programs. In Jody Smetak, FESS found someone for the newly created position of Director of Education. Her background and experience are a great fit for [...]
Tips for keeping the “happy” in your family’s holidays Written By: Shelly Willis, Executive Director, who draws from her experience teaching parenting classes for more than two decades. Many Parents and Caregivers greet the holiday season each year with a combination of joy, love and varying degrees of stress. Navigating the pandemic for the past two years has had an impact [...]
OlyFed to offer help with financial grounding through new banking program Family Education & Support Services (FESS) is one of 40 non-profit organizations to partner with Olympia Federal Savings (OlyFed) on a new program aimed at what Ryan Betz, vice president for marking and public relations, calls those who are “unbanked or underbanked.” The program, called Community Checking, is described on [...]
From Program Participant to Board Member Few people’s lives exemplify resilience more than Lelah Fields. She is one of the reasons why the words “Regional Resilience Center” was added to Family Education and Support Services’ (FESS) identity a few years ago. Resilience, that quality of flexibility and successfully bouncing back from daunting difficulty, epitomizes Lelah’s life. “I am determined to never give [...]
FAMILY EDUCATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES MOURNS THE DEATH OF CARRELL SIMMONS, A MAINSTAY OF THE AREA ORGANIZATION OLYMPIA, WA – The South Puget Sound area lost a valuable friend to parents and children this week with the death of Carrell Simmons, Tenino, who had been the office administrator for Family Education and Support Services (FESS), a Tumwater-based, parent-centered organization that serves [...]
An innovator whose programs better the lives parents and kids Many parents, seeking and sometimes struggling to find the best strategies to raise kids who are emotionally healthy and resilient, find a local online support system through Family Education & Support Services' Parental Compass podcast, hosted by Bobby Williams. And young people who may be struggling to find their identity and express [...]
