Why Become a Foster Parent with Arden Shore Child and Family Services

Why Become a Foster Parent with Arden Shore Child and Family Services?

In communities across Northern Illinois, there are children who need more than a place to stay – they need a place to belong.

Arden Shore Child and Family Services has been quietly and powerfully rebuilding children’s lives for over a century, serving families in Lake County and the surrounding Northern Region of Illinois. With a mission centered on creating safe, healthy, and stable environments for children, Arden Shore provides foster care, behavioral health services, and family preservation programs designed to strengthen entire families – not just respond to crisis. 

For individuals considering foster parenting, choosing the right agency matters. Here are three powerful reasons why fostering with Arden Shore is a meaningful – and uniquely supported – path.

1. You Become Part of a Full Continuum of Care 

At Arden Shore, foster care is not a standalone service – it is part of a comprehensive, integrated system designed to support children and families at every level.

Foster parents are backed by:

• Behavioral health services
• Family preservation programs
• Case management and court advocacy
• Ongoing support for both foster and birth families

This means you are not navigating fostering alone. You are part of a coordinated team working toward stability, healing, and permanency for each child. 

As a smaller agency, Arden Shore’s model ensures that foster parents are connected to the full ecosystem of services that children need to thrive.

2. A Deeply Personal, Community-Based Approach

Arden Shore is a small, community-rooted agency serving primarily Lake County and the Northern Region of Illinois. That matters.

Because of its size and structure:

• Foster parents receive individualized attention
• Relationships with staff are close and responsive
• Decisions are made with a strong understanding of the local community

Arden Shore has been embedded in this region for over 100 years, evolving alongside the needs of families while maintaining its core commitment: rebuilding children’s lives in a caring community. 

For foster parents, this translates into something important in child welfare – a sense that you are known, supported, and valued, not just one of many.

3. A Mission-Driven Focus on Healing and Belonging

Children entering foster care have often experienced trauma, loss, or instability. Arden Shore’s philosophy recognizes that foster parenting is not just about providing shelter – it is about restoring a sense of safety, dignity, and belonging.

Foster parents with Arden Shore are:

• Nurturers and advocates, not just caregivers
• Key members of a child’s support network alongside social workers, educators, and medical professionals
• Essential in helping children process fear, uncertainty, and change

Children placed through Arden Shore may include sibling groups, older youth, or children with emotional or developmental needs – each requiring patience, compassion, and consistency. 

Arden Shore equips foster parents with training, financial support, and ongoing guidance so they can meet these needs with confidence and care. 

Why It Matters Now

Across Illinois, the need for foster families remains urgent. Children cannot wait for the “perfect” home – they need committed, caring adults who are willing to step forward.

Foster parenting is not about having all the answers.
It is about showing up.

And at Arden Shore, you don’t show up alone.

Take the First Step

If you have ever thought about fostering, and you live in the Northern Region of Illinois, now is the time to learn more. Let It Be Us works closely with Arden Shore to recruit new foster parents. Please contact our Director of Foster Home Recruitment, Cathy Newbury, at cathynewbury@letitbeus.org.

About Let It Be Us:
Let It Be Us is a nonprofit organization dedicated to recruitment, matching and placement within foster care and adoption across the State of Illinois. Through innovative programming and strategic partnerships, Let It Be Us aims to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare system. Learn more at www.letitbeus.org.

Dr. Susan A. McConnell, DSW, MBA

Dr. Susan A. McConnell is the Founder and Executive Director of Let It Be Us, an Illinois licensed child welfare agency with the mission of providing collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement within Illinois foster care and adoption. Susan has an MBA from DePaul University and a Doctorate Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California, where her work focused on permanency within child welfare.  She is the Chair of the Permanency Committee of the Illinois Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council, appointed by the Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in 2017. She is also an adoptive parent with over 30 years of open adoption experience. She can be reached at susanmcconnell@letitbeus.org.

Let It Be Us is an Illinois 501(c)3 and licensed child welfare agency. The mission of Let It Be Us is to provide collaborative, innovative solutions of effective recruitment and placement within Illinois foster care and adoption. The Let It Be Us platform manages the Adoption Listing Service of Illinois and the Heart Gallery of Illinois, engines of success for Illinois foster care adoptions. The Let It Be Us vision is for all children in the Illinois child welfare system to achieve educational equity, employment equity, and overall well being through the incorporation of Let It Be Us Programming into statewide advancements in foster care and adoption recruitment and placement. For more information about Let It Be Us, visit www.letitbeus.org.