Hope

Making the World a Little Better

As a young couple with a toddler, Allegra and Joseph weren’t thinking about becoming foster parents, particularly for a teenager. But then they met Jamie. Jamie had been split up from her siblings and placed in a series of foster homes, attending 13 different schools. “We became foster parents to Jamie because we wanted her to have permanency in her life,” Joseph said. Allegra and Joseph loved Jamie unconditionally, helping her overcome her anxiety and…

Hope

Fostering Love

The Pillers’ home is always alive with the energy of children. Along with caring for their two young sons and daughter, whom they adopted through foster care, they serve as a “receiving home” for children when they are first placed in foster care. In that role, they have welcomed nearly 100 children to their home. Tim and Jenny Piller decided to look into adopting through foster care after trying for years to have biological children….

Integrity

Everyone wants to give the best to their child

When Sanat and his family relocated to the East Bay from India for a job opportunity in the tech industry, everybody felt a bit disoriented. His young son, Yatharth, became very fearful of strangers and would cry whenever anyone approached. Eager to help his son adjust, Sanat decided to investigate fatherhood classes at Aspiranet’s Monument First 5 Center in Concord, which provides services to families with children 0-5 years old. Sanat admits he was a…

Courage

Trusting Fate

A chance encounter two years ago inspired Jennifer Goodrich to start a family through foster care. She was in a public restroom when she heard a woman crying, and soon discovered that what she heard were tears of joy. The woman had been overcome when her foster daughter asked her if she would adopt her and make their family permanent. Soon after, Jennifer made her way to Aspiranet, which was recommended to her by the…

Courage

A Beautiful Friendship

The day Alondra first met the team from Aspiranet’s Intensive Home-Based Services Wraparound program, she wasn’t up for visitors. It happened to be her 16th birthday, and the team arrived at the motel room where she was staying with her parents and offered a cake and present. “I was like: I don’t want that;” Alondra recalls. “I don’t want a bunch of new strangers in my house wanting to know about me.” She softened a…