In honor of National Foster Care Month, here’s a story about an extraordinary foster family provided by Hillside’s Therapeutic Foster Care team.

We would like to share an amazing story of a family whose partnership with Hillside opened many opportunities for children as well as within their own family. Through their care, love and nurturing, many children have been able to call this family their family, and this house their home. We can’t think of a better way to honor Christopher and Alan Girangaya than to share this story of friendship, love and mutual respect.

Most anyone who comes to the Girangayas’ home in Holley, NY, is treated like family. They have been foster/adoptive parents for Hillside for 20 years, including two grown adopted children.

More than 10 years ago, Chris and Alan welcomed into their home a teen mother of one who was expecting another child. With the Girangayas’ support, the mom prepared for independence and grew confident that Chris and Alan would love and care for her children. This led to the adoption of Cadence Alana Girangaya and Mason Christopher Girangaya in 2012.

They were followed by the adoptions of Michael Keahi Girangaya and Elena Kiele Girangaya in 2017. Then, a couple of years later, a non-verbal youth was placed with Chris and Alan who had difficulty expressing his wants and needs. Many interventions were provided for this youth, and ultimately Maxwell Kanani Girangaya was adopted in 2019.

Most recently, when Myles Adriano Girangaya was adopted in 2022, his maternal grandmother joined the celebration and fully supported her grandson’s adoption. There were many hugs and happy tears in the courtroom that day!

Over the years, many other children in need have been welcomed into the Girangayas’ home before eventually returning to their birth families with support from Chris and Alan.

We thank the Girangaya family for sharing their lives with so many young people in need; for allowing children to feel love and supported; and for helping these youth become part of their extended family. They are role models for all of us.

Community support allows Hillside to serve even more children and families. Learn about becoming a foster parent; join our team as a Hillside staff member; or make a donation today to support our mission.

The Hillside Kinship Caregiver Team is proud to announce William Jeffers as a recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Kinship Caregiver Cura Award. Hillside Permanency Specialist Tracy Garrison was invited to present Jeffers’ nomination at a statewide virtual celebration held on September 22 by the NYS Kincare Coalition and NYS Kinship Navigator. More than 100 stakeholders and kinship program representatives were in attendance.

The Cura Awards were established in 2015 to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions of those involved with kinship care. The Outstanding Kinship Caregiver award recognizes a kinship caregiver who has demonstrated selflessness and leadership, or who has overcome tremendous barriers.

A Rochester native and single grandfather, Jeffers has devoted his life as a role model to those in his family, church and community. As a young adult, Jeffers became a foster parent caring for African-American youth in need of a father figure. Eventually, he also helped others as a foster care mentor.

At a time of his life when he could have been enjoying retirement and fishing in Florida, Jeffers put his plans aside when his granddaughter Breana (pictured above with Jeffers) needed a responsible parent to love and care for her. He obtained full custody of Breana at the age of two months; she is now 19 and recently graduated from high school with a bright future ahead of her. 

Jeffers is an engaged client in the Hillside Kinship Caregiver Program and regularly attends family activities and caregiver support groups. He has become a role model to other caregivers in this program and represents the most important qualities of being a nurturing and dedicated grandfather and caregiver. Hillside congratulates him on this well-deserved honor!

Philanthropic support helps Hillside’s kinship services impact more lives in the communities we all call home. Support Hillside today.

Hillside’s Therapeutic Foster Care services are designed to provide safe and nurturing care to children in a structured home environment. Marley’s story, told in her own words, details her experience working with the Hillside Foster Care team to find stability and a family structure that made an essential difference in her life.

Life was chaotic. I was born in 2007 and lived with my mom and my older sister. We were always moving, always shuffling from place to place. My mother got a new boyfriend and had four more children so my status of ‘being the youngest’ quickly changed. My sister and I were children watching children. By the time I was eight years old, all six of us went into foster care. As we all moved through the foster care system, apart from each other, life seemed hopeless. And incredibly sad.

I was placed with a family that had other adopted children. It was one big group in one home. They were my family now. The two youngest children were eventually placed into a forever home. I was happy for them but also sad to see them go. I keep in touch with them – they are still family to me.

My foster family had 7 other children. It was nice to have other brothers and sisters. Some were around my age; others were older. When I was 11, my family asked me if I wanted to stay to be their forever daughter. It was the happiest day of my life. In March of 2019 I became the youngest of 8 children.

During all the turbulence and transition, the team at Hillside that surrounded us and supported me, and my family, were undeniably critical to getting me to where I am today. I’m 15 and in high school. I am cheerleading and travelling and camping! I have a relationship with my birth mom and sometimes see my other siblings. I still look forward to seeing the staff at Hillside that worked to get me into a forever home. They are very special to me.

Sometimes it just takes one person to change your life. To believe in you. To want you to be safe and loved. And home.

Success stories like Marley’s are made possible through community support of Hillside’s Therapeutic Foster Parent program. Learn more about becoming a foster parent, and support Hillside’s mission today.

Jane and her two younger siblings (ages 7, 6 and 4 years) entered the child welfare system due to concerns of safety and neglect, linked to issues of substance abuse by their mother. Initially, the mother was unwilling to engage with service providers due to her mistrust of the system. Hillside’s Family Finding program was identified as a strong potential resource for this family.

The Hillside Family Finding model is based on a recognition of the uniquely valuable role family members can play in the health and wellbeing of individuals in need. Research has proven that meaningful lifelong connections with family and natural supports are the single factor most closely associated with positive outcomes for youth. With this in mind, Family Finding helps find permanent lifetime connections for vulnerable youth that can strengthen the health and wellbeing of all involved.

At the time of Jane and her siblings’ enrollment in Family Finding, only one family member—a maternal grandmother—had been identified as a potential support. Hillside’s Family Finding team was able to locate 25 more potential family members who might be able to provide safe and healthy lifetime connections. This was accomplished through extensive research tactics that include mining of available county records; scouring of public social media accounts; and an advanced Seneca Search technique designed for use by family agencies in scenarios such as this.

While the children remained in care, a Family Finding Permanency Specialist assisted the mother in exploring safe housing options; encouraged her to attend therapy sessions; and helped facilitate weekly visits with her children. The mother came to rely on her Family Finding contact as a trusted resource for information about the child welfare and court systems, the importance of reaching out to others for help, and better understanding her family’s history. This connection helped her to confidently pursue her own treatment.

Through this partnership with the children’s mother, the Permanency Specialist was able to narrow the list to 10 confirmed family members. One of these relatives, a maternal brother, has welcomed the mother and children into his home while they continue their own pathways to recovery. Today, these combined supports have allowed the mother to resume primary care of her three children, with ongoing support from their extended family and Hillside.

To learn more about Family Finding, contact Marsha Whitley, Director of the Hillside Institute for Family Connections®, at mwhitley@hillside.com.

Community support allows Family Finding to help more youth and families in need. Donate to Hillside today.