Foster care fundraiser fosters hope
Several years ago, social studies teacher Kristin Binyon opened her doors to four small children in need of a foster home. Now she is trying to win permanent custody and adopt all four. To help with her legal fees, colleague Sarah Wiseman started a GoFundMe. “It amazes me how unbelievably giving people can be,” Binyon said. “Liberty is like a family. People here are simply great and I’ve teared up numerous times just seeing the numbers go up. It just means a lot and I’m so thankful.”
For the past two and a half years, Economics teacher Kristin Binyon has been fighting to adopt her four foster children and to remove the foster care status from their lives. However, as a single parent in the foster care system, this initiative comes with its own set of challenges.
“The reality is that the case isn’t ending anytime soon from what we’ve seen,” Binyon said. “They’ve attempted to move the children four times and each of the moves has failed. Some of them have gone through such traumatic experiences. In the fall, the foster care contract was supposed to be terminated to allow for adoption. I was super happy that we were finally going to get that permanency. But I was then told that the agency was attempting another return. I couldn’t believe that this was happening for a fifth time. These young kids cannot handle the constant back and forth of not knowing where their future lies.”
In order to help make the process a little lighter on Binyon and her family, social studies teacher Sarah Wiseman has created a fundraiser in order to help and provide support as they attempt to combat the trials and tribulations of foster care.
“Coach Binyon is fighting to take good care of her children. I see from a teacher’s perspective what she’s done to help these kids who were in a horrible situation get through all their difficulties and [receive] great education,” Wiseman said. “So, I want to make sure that these kids are taken care of and protected and I know that Coach Binyon will do a great job for them.”
Although the implementation of the fundraiser is fairly new, Binyon has been working to resolve this issue for years on end.
“As a single parent with four kids, it’s difficult for me to necessarily fund an intervention,” Binyon said. “This case has been open with the children for forty-two months and it was hard for me to have the ability to stand and fight against the trauma that they’re experiencing and the things that they were going through with the amount of funding I had. That’s a very long time for a child to grow up with that label of a foster child and to not have a forever home and feeling of permanency.”
Moreover, when this battle with the system will come to an end is still unclear.
“When we go to court, essentially, we’ll have a trial that lasts around three days and there’s an appeal window following said trial,” Binyon said. “It could very well be a several month long journey we have ahead of us. I’m hoping to have some sense of finality by the next school year. This is a hard journey especially with it being so long.”
However, the money raised from the fundraiser has allowed Binyon to make significant advances in the case.
“The GoFundMe actually allowed me to pay the retainer fee,” Binyon said. “I have hired one of the leading attorneys in interventions and now the case is being led in an attempt to find permanency. Regardless of whether or not it’s with me, we’re trying to make sure that we have permanency somewhere because it’s not that I think that the system’s goal of reunification isn’t good, it’s just that they haven’t stuck with it and we keep going back and forth which is so detrimental for the children.”
But in addition to the financial strain that the case has taken on the family, the mental strain has been equally as draining.
“Even though the law is written one way, it is carried out differently.” Binyon said. “Sometimes, it’s very disappointing and this experience has opened my eyes to the sad part of it all. Seeing the trauma and experiencing it secondhand through my children is so difficult. At times, it brings a lot of sadness to our home but the joy that they can bring into life and the growth that they’ve had makes every moment worth it, even the darkest and saddest moments.”
Through her fundraiser, Wiseman hopes Binyon can receive legal representation and support to protect her family from pain and separation.
“Coach Binyon had been promised by the foster agency that she was going to get permanent custody, [but] they switched gears,” Wiseman said. “These kids have been in the system a lot longer than foster care is meant to cover, so I really hope that Coach Binyon is able to hire a lawyer and gain permanent custody of her children because she has been such a great mom to them, and they all deserve to stay together as a family.”
For Binyon, the immense support that the fundraiser has garnered has brought her faith in this community and for the case.
“It amazes me how unbelievably giving people can be,” Binyon said. “Liberty is like a family. People here are simply great and I’ve teared up numerous times just seeing the numbers go up. It feels like this dream that I have for the kids is finally going to be a reality and it’s because of the people who are surrounding us. It really makes me feel special, loved, and appreciated. It just means a lot and I’m so thankful.”
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