TAPLINK

Support for
Pennsylvania
Adoptive & Foster Families

Taproot issue 49 - May 2005

New PSFPA President

Newly-elected Pennsylvania State Foster Association (PSFPA) Pesident Wilhelmina Cockcroft has focused her career on supporting families. As the world of child and family services continues to embrace broader definitions of what families can be, she looks forward to supporting even more of Pennsylvania’s foster families in new ways.

Wilhelmina is president of Kids Come First, a non- profit organization she and her niece started in 1996 to support the need of foster children and their families. Kids Come First offers pre-school/ after-school care, therapeutic summer camps, independent living preparation for teens, a parent support group and respite service. Among her many community involvements, she serves on the Black Parenting Advisory Board, the family-to-family Advisory Board and is a Court Appointed Special Advocate.

Wilhelmina and her husband Karl have been married for 35 years and make their home in West Philadelphia. They have 2 biological children and one granddaughter. Since becoming foster parents 15 years ago, the have cared for a total of 12 children, including 21- year old and a 16- year old foster sons who live with them now.

Wilhelmina’s commitment to families began with the decision to expand her own family through foster parenting. Before entering the world of foster parenting and support, she’d already built a successful career in the real estate business. Fifteen years ago, she was recruited and encouraged in foster parenting by a close friend who was a foster parent. With her own two children successfully grown up and gone, she felt she could make a difference in children’s lives- and help keep families together by being a supportive part of the reunification process. As Wilhelmina takes on her own two-year-term, she looks forward to seeking new ways for the PSFPA to play even more of a supportive role for families. “I would like to hear more form the families, learn more about how we can retain them as parents and be able to respond to their needs,” she said. While she personally and professionally remains strongly committed to supporting reunification, she also sees the notion of family support as embracing a broader definition of families that includes foster, kinship, biological, and adoptive parents.

Some of the changes begin by changing the language. As one example, Wilhelmina notes that within the last year, the Foster Parent Support Group at Kids Come First has changed its name to Resource Families Support Group. She looks forward to continuing the collaborative efforts with Swan to find and nurture more families to meet the many different needs of children in the system.