Foster Care Closet - Leigh Esau

March 16, 2022

Foster Care Closet - Leigh Esau

Leigh Esau is a product of the foster care system.  Having spent the first 7 years of her life in foster care she knew early in her life she wanted to give back to those who would follow.  The Foster CARE Closet was founded in March of 2006 after founders Patrick and Leigh Esau recognized the need for quality clothing in the foster care system. Though several placements at their home, they came to the realization that almost all of the children came to their doorstep with only the clothes they were wearing - and nothing else.

These experiences and conversations with other foster parents helped them conceptualize the Foster CARE Closet,  leading them to start it out of their own basement! Beginning with simple donations from neighbors, churches, and community members, the Foster CARE Closet began offering quality clothing to foster children entering the system at no cost to them or their foster parents. 

Since then, the Foster CARE Closet has grown to include and support a variety of different services including the Intake Center and Hope Chest. Housed in a specialized facility in Lincoln, NE, the headquarters not only accepts donations from community members and houses all volunteer activity, but also works to source brand new clothing from local businesses and partners.

THE FOSTER HAVEN/FOSTER CARE CLOSET
We are guided by 5 core values that focus on meeting the immediate needs of children in crisis as they enter into the foster care system and continued support through their foster care journey.
  •  
    • We are broken people serving broken families
      • Our purpose is to serve with compassion and respect to every person involved in the foster care journey.
    • Every person has value
      • Our passion is to restore dignity to children in the first hours of their foster care journey by providing for their immediate needs of shelter, food and NEW clothing.
    • We are a team
      • Our focus is on providing support to the case managers by providing and intentionally designed space for them to be able to have difficult conversation.  Supporting the biological family by providing for immediate needs of their children such as food and clothing.  Supporting the foster family by making sure that we have met the immediate needs of a child as they enter into foster care and by supporting a foster child by meeting their needs of a safe place to wait, making sure they are fed and helping them shop for NEW clothing.
    • We tackle problems
      • We don't see obstacles, we see opportunities!
    • We are intentional influencers
      • We pride ourselves on purposefully setting the tone for the foster care journey for our children.  We believe that the standard should focus on meeting the child's needs first, then being a team partner with everybody involved and helping our children experience hope in the midst of a very scary time for them.

The Foster Haven

  We don't believe that foster care should start in a cubicle!
  • We are available 24/7 for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to bring a child who must enter into the foster care system.
  • We have trained staff to support children in those first hours of their foster care journey
  • Our environment allows case managers to visually see the child the entire time but protect the child from overhearing difficult conversations
  • A child will transition into foster care with a full tummy and 5 NEW outfits of clothing

Foster CARE Closet

Foster care is a journey, not a destination.  We are here to help support our children the entire foster care journey.
  • We continue to provide up to 5 outfits during each season for as long as the child remains in foster care
  • We provide a quiet environment that is not open to the public to help accommodate any special needs for our child or for their caregiver
  • Our foster parents schedule a time to shop so that we can offer all our focus on meeting the needs of the child
  • We provide additional support resources to families navigating the road of foster care

PASSION STATEMENT

We are passionate about restoring dignity to children in crisis as they enter into the foster care system.

Leigh told us that have helped 1,044 kids into foster care and 400 of them are new kids.  They have six locations, which two are in Lincoln and the others are in Beatrice, Grand Island, Scottsbluff and North Platte.  One of those in Lincoln is with the Child Advocacy Center.  They do not currently have one on Omaha because mostly was private until recently when the State of Nebraska took over, so they are planning to locate one in Omaha in the near future.  They do partner with DHHS (Department of Heath and Human Services).  They pay for the clothing through private donations, grants and personal donations.  In Lincoln they have two full-time employees and four part-time.

Many of the clothes they purchase for these children come from Kohls, Walmart, and donations.