Hillside Strong: Stories of Hillside
“It’s more love for everyone”: Every child is unique, and so is every foster care placement. Throughout the regions served by Hillside, individuals and families providing foster care have found varied ways to Make A Difference in the lives of youth in need.
Like Brian DiNitto and his partner Karen Mayes, some families provide Respite Foster Care to youth who are already in their forever homes, but who still benefit from short stays in a friendly environment. Other families like Jillian and Aaron Sylvis come to fostering through a prior relationship with a specific youth – Kinship Care that can prove invaluable in helping a child find stability.
Brad and Marcie Prinzi are examples of a family who foster as a way of supporting the eventual reunification of a child with their biological family. And for parents like Nicole Baker, the relationship she formed with J led to the single mom adopting the teen: “I thought I was doing something good, but he was doing something good for me.”
Stronger Futures Together: How You Can Help
The successes behind these Stories of Hillside are the result of partnerships—among youth, families and staff; community partners committing time, expertise and resources; and donors whose support empowers key programs and drives our innovation. Your support for our work can take many forms, and will help countless young people and adults achieve the stronger futures they deserve.
Become a Foster Parent at Hillside
The need for stable, loving foster homes has never been greater. Hillside provides training and support to ensure your success.
Work at Hillside
As a member of the Hillside team, you’ll advance your career while making a difference every day.
Donate to Hillside
Your generosity ensures the strength of our programs today, and helps us reach more youth, adults and families tomorrow.
About Foster Parenting at Hillside
Hillside foster parents provide a stable, supportive environment for children from newborn to 21 years who are currently unable to live at home because of a variety of family challenges. Like all children, they need loving caregivers who can help them learn important life skills.
Hillside provides extensive training and 24/7 support for families in a range of full- and part-time foster parenting scenarios; and a generous daily stipend helps foster parents meet the needs of the child in their care.
Hillside foster parents live throughout Western and Central New York, including the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier regions. The need for this service is widespread, and so is Hillside’s ability to support families in this critical work that makes a life-changing difference—for a night, a weekend, or a lifetime.
LEARN MORE
- To discover additional details within the stories in the video above, visit the Stories of Hillside pages dedicated to the Prinzi family, the Sylvis family, Brian DiNitto and Karen Mayes, and Nicole Baker.
- Hillside’s Foster Care page can provide more information about becoming a foster parent, and links to connect you with our team of foster care support professionals who can answer your questions and start you on the road to becoming a Hillside foster parent.