Foster children

The Division of Child and Family Services, Nevada’s Department of Health and Human Services, invites the community to participate in the 2nd annual “Walk Us Home” 5K for Foster Homes on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in Carson City.

In our community we believe that children deserve to grow up in safe and loving homes. At times, children may witness severe domestic violence between their parents, are afraid for their safety when their parents are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or have parents struggling to remain stable due to severe mental health issues. These children are growing up in unstable situations and feel alone and scared.

We are looking for a few great volunteers! CASA of Carson City helped change the stories of more than 100 abused and neglected children last year. As a CASA volunteer, you aren’t just an important piece of that work, you are the heart and soul of what we do!

Carson City Court Appointed Special Advocates will hold information hours via Zoom this Thursday and Friday and again on Tuesday, Feb. 23. Do you like children? Are you interested in volunteering? Would you like to advocate for children in foster care?

The B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge in Carson City recognizes annually people who have excelled in volunteering their time to help make their respective communities a better place for all. This year the Carson City Elks Lodge has proudly recognized Carol Park as citizen of the year.

The Reno Rodeo Foundation awarded $30,000 to six families as a part of the organization’s Reno Rodeo Wish program, which supports the foundation’s mission to assist young people in Northern Nevada with extraordinary needs.

A Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is a trained volunteer appointed by a judge to speak up for the best interests of children in foster care. CASA Volunteers are Everyday Heroes who come from all walks of life and serve as the eyes and ears of the Court.

Carson City Elks No. 2177 put on a Children’s Christmas party for local foster children and their parents on Dec. 14 at the Governor’s mansion. Santa was there to take pictures with the children and pass out stockings with toys and candy inside of them. Mrs. Claus passed out candy canes.

Nevada Division of Child and Family Services hosted its annual Sweets With Santa Event Saturday, Dec. 14 in Carson City for the area’s foster youth thanks to our local community partners.

Each year, thousands of homeless and at-risk children in our local communities return to school without the basic supplies they need.

Operation Backpack is able to provide thousands of backpacks, grade-specific school supplies, and a variety of support services to homeless, at-risk and foster children from Pre-school to High School levels throughout the Northern Nevada regions.

Every child needs a hero, but abused children need Superheroes. We’ve heard a million times that kids are sponges, absorbing all that they see and hear. That includes the good, the bad and the ugly. It makes sense that they want to imitate one of the good guys in a show or cartoon. To a child, a superhero is magical. A superhero is powerful! A superhero can help keep them safe.

Seventh-grade science students from Ashley Killeen’s class at Carson Middle School in Carson City completed a donation drive today that benefits foster children in rural Nevada.

The Christmas season can be difficult for children in foster care. For some, it may be the first Christmas not spent with their families. For others, it is just one more Christmas in the child welfare system.

There are not enough foster families in Carson City to meet the need, forcing children to be displaced into other communities — possibly causing further trauma. Information meetings this Wednesday and in March will address the shortage and ways to recruit families wanting to help.

The Division of Child and Family Services is holding a foster parent information night Wednesday Feb. 7, at Carson Middle School from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Come and learn more about what the Division of Child and Family Services does, its role in the community, and its partnership with other local agencies that serve children and families.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program for 2018, which provides funding for nutritious meals and snacks served to children and adults receiving day care, has been renewed, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture.

Soroptimist International of Carson City wishes to thank all the sponsors, donors and each and every one of the 51 loyal members of our community who played in the 16th Annual Stroke to Help golf tournament making it the success it was.

Kristin Cable, Eagle Valley Middle School; Shanell Cavener, Carson High School and Wendy Petty, Carson Middle School, were honored last week as Outstanding Math Educators by the Northern Nevada Mathematics Council.

"You could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make you hurt.” — Nine Inch Nails, “Hurt”

The lyrics to the song “Hurt” remind me of a man by the name of William Randolph Hearst. He made and lost fortunes from pioneering “yellow newspaper,” a simple term for gossip papers that had a way of twisting the truth.

Wanted: New shoes for foster children. All sizes needed. Donations are being accepted at the following locations:

CASA of Carson City is currently looking for board members to assist in carrying out the mission of our organization to the best of our ability.

CASA board members are not actively involved in cases with our trained volunteers but are certainly a vital part of our success by providing organizational leadership.

We are holding a "CASA Board Recruitment Information Hour" to answer questions from interested community members and give information on what it means to be a board member.

September 15th at 6pm

CASA of Carson City
1539 E. Fifth Street

Residents of Carson City, and across Northern Nevada, are encouraged to donate a Barbie doll to help brighten the day of a foster child.

The doll collection effort is spearheaded by Hearts for Girls, a project group affiliated with Harvest Fellowship Church, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which started the campaign to help children in foster homes understand they are supported by the greater community. Organizers hope to collect 500 Barbie Dolls.

I recently wrote an article about child welfare needs in Carson City. This included the shortage of foster homes here in the Nevada state capital.

My wife, Lisa, and I were foster-to-adopt parents through the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) for a few years. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the need for people to step up and open their hearts and homes to foster children is critical.

But making a commitment as heavy as this requires preparation on multiple levels.

Imagine being awakened in the middle of the night by a stranger, escorted out into the chill of dark Nevada twilight, placed in a strange car, and driven to a strange house with more strangers who tell you everything is going to be all right.

To top it off, you are expected to go back to sleep in a strange bed.

Welcome to the world of a foster child, whose story is much the same whether it's told in Las Vegas or Battle Mountain, in Caliente or Carson City.

To a child placed in foster care, the world can be a cold, foreboding, lonely place. But thanks to donations from some local businesses, foster children in Carson City can find some comfort in a scary situation.

In December, the Carson City district office for the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) received donations from Carson-Tahoe Health and Kassity Management Group designed to help make the difficult transition into foster care a little bit easier for children.

With a theme that takes aim at the future — creating the community you want to live in — TEDx Carson City is an all-day event where speakers from a variety of disciplines share their life's work, passions and concepts through thought-provoking and entertaining talks that run between 10 to 15 minutes.

What initially began as a holiday party for Carson Tahoe Health employees and their families has grown to include organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada through the efforts of the CTH events committee headed by Kayleen Fogleman, director of supply chain management.

CTH provided treats and activities, including decorating enormous sugar cookies, writing letters to Santa, mingling with Carson City firefighters and a visit with Santa at the annual Carson Tahoe Health Kids Christmas Party in the main hall of the hospital Dec. 10.

Miss Carson City, Briana Neben says, "Please come and learn what CASA Volunteers do. Bring a friend!"

CASA of Carson City will hold an Information Hour, 5:30pm, April 7th, at the CASA of Carson City office, 1539 E. 5th Street.

Come and learn more about being a CASA volunteer. CASA volunteers are appointed by the Carson City Juvenile Court to serve as guardian ad litem for a case of abused or neglected children in a child welfare court case.

With the holiday season here, Carson Tahoe Health in Carson City has collected hundreds of items from employees and is filling personal belonging bags for local area foster children.

“Many kids are taken from their homes and placed in Foster Care for their protection without the opportunity to take anything with them.” said James Reyes, Food and Nutrition Services Manager. “So Carson Tahoe decided to step in and do something to help make this transition easier.”