Duluth foster parent recognized for building connections between foster and birth families

NINA MOINI: A movement in Minnesota and nine other states calls for an approach to child welfare that maintains connections between foster and birth families so they can work together to give children love and support. It's called the Quality Parenting Initiative, or QPI, and for Jessica Gunnarson this strategy was a natural response to her personal experience as someone who's experienced different sides of the child welfare system.

Jessica is a foster parent in Duluth, and she's receiving an award this week from QPI. She joins me now. Thanks for being here, Jessica.

JESSICA GUNNARSON: Of course, thank you for asking.

NINA MOINI: We're also thrilled to have Kate Rickord. She's with the Youth Law Center, a national group that's behind QPI, and Kate is a leader of the project in Minnesota. Thanks for being here as well, Kate.

KATE RICKORD: Thank you for having us here today.

NINA MOINI: Well, I'd love to start with you, Jessica, if I could. I alluded to it there in our introduction, but would you mind just telling us a little bit about your journey and what led you to become a foster parent?

JESSICA GUNNARSON: I am originally, first, a birth parent who went through a couple cases of child protection many years ago. And then in 2012, I lost my kids again and I didn't get to reunify. But I still stayed in contact, but I wanted to give back. I wanted to help care for other people's children and give them an experience that I didn't have with child protection.

NINA MOINI: Hm. And so how did you get involved specifically with Quality Parenting Initiative?

JESSICA GUNNARSON: I became a resource parent here in 2023, and my licensor had brought it up a couple times to me because she says, you're already doing it. You should just get trained and get the champion part.

But I was, first year, fostering-- like, I glazed it over, and then she brought it up again, and I looked at it. And I felt like that's where I belonged. And once I was connected with QPI, as a birth parent, I have a voice.

NINA MOINI: Jessica, why do you think it's so important or can be beneficial for children to have this type of a setup where the birth parent or family is more involved?

JESSICA GUNNARSON: Reunification. Connection. Support. It's huge. The kiddos that are reunified from our home, we were able to go to Bentleyville one year-- last year, and that was one of their parents' goals. They weren't bad people, they weren't bad parents. They were actually very amazing people and parents.

But one of her things was she's always wanted to bring her kids to that. So I made arrangements to make it possible by taking a couple different vehicles and having my sister-in-law and brother-in-law help my husband with the other kiddos we had, and then I was able to go off with mom and dad and their two boys and enjoy Bentleyville. And I'm still connected to them today. We're all going to be going to Bentleyville next week, it sounds like, together.

NINA MOINI: So working together to make sure that that experience could happen in a way that includes everybody. You know, Kate, Jessica makes an important point about the idea of reunification, which is ultimately the goal, that children would get to go back to their parents ultimately.

What is QPI? Tell us just a little bit more about what it looks like in practice. Jessica mentioned she was already doing a lot of the values that it entails, but would you tell us a little bit more about what it can look like in practice?

KATE RICKORD: Yeah. So QPI is a systems change approach designed to align the foster care system with what excellent parenting actually looks like. And Jessica gave us the real-world example in which a child is experiencing day-to-day enjoyment with their parents and those who are providing that temporary care, but it is a loving approach, all of us together.

And so what Jessica is highlighting is when everyone is working together, children experience less trauma and have better outcomes. And so a core part of what QPI is bringing all the stakeholders together to the table-- parents, foster parents, kin, caregivers, youth, child welfare professionals, the courts, and our community partners.

NINA MOINI: And Kate, how widespread are these practices, do you think, in Minnesota? Is any of this a requirement under any type of law or policy, or does it just come together naturally?

KATE RICKORD: We were fortunate to have some legislative support. And so there is a statute that occurred in 2020 called the Initial Call Statute, which is out of QPI practices called the Comfort Call. And it's a simple, but powerful practice in when a child enters care, that the foster parent reaches out to the parent to let them your child is safe and cared for, and it's that first moment of building a relationship so that the child can feel less caught in the middle.

But really, it is also that opportunity to get what the child needs, things like bedtime routine, food, who is the important people in their lives, what are the activities coming up? It's a really tumultuous time and a lot of uncertainty, and we don't want to lose what is so important for children in that exact moment for them in their day to day. And so that is a statewide piece that all of the state is required to support through the QPI efforts.

But then there's other components of the principles and practices, as Jessica said, that she's doing-- that she was doing before even knowing what QPI was because it's just loving parenting. And then we also have individual counties or community-based organizations that have really stepped up and said, I am QPI, and go above and beyond in being part of our established network here in Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: And Jessica, what impact do you see on the kids that you've cared for?

JESSICA GUNNARSON: A lot, huge. The Comfort Call I was not fortunate to have because it wasn't implemented when my case went through. I've got 12 years of recovery, I want to say, so it was like 13 years ago, Comfort Call wasn't a thing. and now that it is a thing, the connection that I've been able to make with the parents has been huge.

And the kids, when they say-- I say, I talked to your mom today via Messenger, they light up. They love that we're working together for them. It makes them happy to know that we're not looking at their parents as bad people because that's what they think. They think that everybody thinks that their parents are bad people, and they're not.

We foster the whole family, we don't foster just a child. It's a relationship. And I have a good connection with the majority of my parents that have-- of the kids that have come into my care. My boy's dad's going to be out next week, and we get to have see him for the first time in three years. And our boy is so excited for that. That wouldn't have happened without the Comfort Call and the relationship that we built with them.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. It sounds like, Jessica, that you've reached a good place through hard work where you're able to make this a positive experience for the kids that you foster. Kate, I do wonder about boundaries, if you teach or recommend anything for situations where maybe it's not as appropriate for legal reasons for there to be contact with birth families, or where there just might be struggles.

KATE RICKORD: We have one of our QPI champions, Carmella, always says that there's always a safe way to be in some type of relationship. And sometimes that might be just holding this person in your mind and in your heart in a way that holds compassion for their story and their experience because of the children that we're caring for. We are caring for their children, and they are their parent.

But there is training, there is support, there's lots of different ways to be connected to individuals that still allows boundaries. Boundaries is the way that we love each other simultaneously, and so how can we do that?

And so foster parents receive that support, and so do parents as well, in navigating what that relationship looks like because at the end of the day, we all are in agreement that we are here to best support what the child is needing, and that is to maintain connection and feel love and have repair when that's necessary given the relationships that they've had or the experiences that they've had.

NINA MOINI: And Kate, I can't even imagine how much it means to have someone like Jessica working in this capacity and doing this work who has that empathy and that personal experience. Tell us a little bit more about just why and how your organization is going to be recognizing Jessica.

KATE RICKORD: Jessica is one of six individuals who is getting nationally recognized at our Elevate and Celebrate, which is coming up on Thursday. It's an opportunity where individuals within this national QPI network nominate individuals who they see really exemplify the QPI principles.

Child protection, child welfare, it's messy. Relationships can be messy, and Jessica's just demonstrated a willingness to be there, whether it's with families, whether it's with child welfare professionals helping break down stigma and maybe misbeliefs or misperceptions on the different roles.

And we're just really excited to be able to celebrate the good work that she's been able to do within the few years that she has been fostering, and as she mentioned, it's only really been since 2023 she's been licensed, but she has a lifetime of experience that has given her the opportunity to do this in such a meaningful way.

NINA MOINI: And Jessica, how does it feel to have this recognition in this way?

JESSICA GUNNARSON: It's like winning an Emmy Award.

NINA MOINI: Aww!

[LAUGHTER]

JESSICA GUNNARSON: It is. It's an honor. The hard work paid off. It's doing exactly what I wanted to do, and that was to make changes to the way birth parents are worked with. And to keep the kids connected to their parents and siblings, it's-- when I was told, my mouth dropped, and I think that it was down for a minute. I'm honored, blessed, and grateful.

NINA MOINI: Well, thank you both so much. Jessica, congratulations. Thank you for your time and for sharing your story, and, Kate, thank you as well.

KATE RICKORD: Thank you.

JESSICA GUNNARSON: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Jessica Gunnarson is a foster parent in Duluth who is receiving an award this week from the Quality Parenting Initiative, and Kate Rickord is the Quality Parenting Outreach Lead with the Youth Law Center.