Intentional neighborhoods take root across country – LancasterOnline

PLUMSTEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) When it comes to the joys and challenges of raising foster and adopted children, "it really does take a village," said Mary Pappas, a Perkasie mother of five.

"You can feel very isolated."

Inspired by the role a supportive "village" plays in building healthy families, projects known as intentional neighborhoods are taking root across the country.

Within these communities, foster and adoptive families live and build relationships in a neighborhood of seniors, single-parent families, couples and others.

When Mary and her husband, Mark, who have two biological children, two adopted children and a 2-year-old foster child, learned of the pioneering concept and a plan to build one in Central Bucks, they were intrigued.

"The goal is not to be separate, but to bond with other neighbors," said Mary Pappas. "The common goal is to keep kids safe and build community."

It's a model that is proving successful, including Treehouse, in Easthampton, Massachusetts, which opened in 2006.

Pappas visited the village with other Bucks County residents as part of a program "Revisioning Foster Care in America."

"Treehouse was pretty amazing," Pappas said. There, elderly residents have bought homes to be part of the community by walking children to school, baby-sitting and mentoring.

Similar communities are operating in Tampa, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon.

Recently, a Bucks County nonprofit, BeTheFamily, began searching for a property to create a neighborhood, said Marco Munari, a founder of the organization.

While not part of a church, the new organization is an outgrowth of a Doylestown church's ministry that started 10 years ago to support adoptive and foster parents, said Munari's wife.

"We have a passion and a desire to wrap around those marginalized in our community and are just taking the steps necessary to find the right location for our family and those we will be serving," said Michelle Munari in an email.

In an informal presentation to Plumstead supervisors recently, Marco said such neighborhoods are designed to provide "a sense of belonging, self-worth and community through direct involvement and relationships."

Still somewhat rural, Plumstead is of interest to BeTheFamily because the organization's vision includes a therapeutic farm where residents could help with farming responsibilities, Michelle Munari said. She and her husband stressed that the effort is still in its infancy.

Experts on child welfare and foster care agree the need for quality foster homes is great, as is the need for caring communities to support them.

"There's a drastic shortage of quality foster homes," said Debra Schilling Wolfe, executive director of the Field Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "It's a national crisis."

The intentional neighboring model is a "really wonderful way of giving back. It's a community taking responsibility for the care of kids," she said.

Wolfe cautioned there are also concerns about communities where foster and adoptive children live together.

"It's very easy to be idealistic, but foster kids bring with them baggage from earlier homes. ... Their trauma has to be addressed," Wolfe said. Foster children, and their foster parents, also have unique safety and confidentiality issues, she noted. More evaluation of the model is needed, Wolfe said.

It's because of the special needs that Mary Pappas finds neighborhoods designed specifically to support those with foster and adopted children appealing.

"People say oh, my kid does this or that, but they can't appreciate the difference in a foster child," Pappas said. "They are rooted in different trauma. They have loss experiences from their first family."

To be in a community where others understand that would be helpful to parents and children alike, Pappas said. "I would love to see it happen."

As a real estate agent, Pappas said she is keeping an eye out for potential properties in Bucks County.

Lynne Rainey, executive director of Bucks County Children and Youth Services, called the concept innovative.

"The safety and welfare of children is a community concern," she said. "We all share in the well-being of kids."

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Intentional neighborhoods take root across country - LancasterOnline