At times, children who have been abused or neglected must be removed from their homes for their safety. Foster Care (now called Permanency Planning) is a temporary removal while parents work on getting back together (called reunification). If a family is unable to reunify, other long-term options may include adoption.

Join us as we welcome our special guests, Sheila Alford and Kimberly Adcock from Wake County's Health and Human Services Foster Care (Permanency Planning) & Adoption Services.

Here are ways you can help: Foster Care Donation List, Foster Care FAQs, and Foster Care C.O.S.T. (Community Outreach Sponsorship Team).

About our speakers:
Sheila R. Alford is a native of Scotland County where she began a Human Services Career in 1990. Since that time she has served in Cumberland and Wake counties having served in Wake County since 1993. Sheila earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from UNC-Charlotte and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology with a clinical concentration magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University. Sheila’s professional experience includes serving as a Director of a Residential Substance Abuse Program for women with dependent children, a mental health therapist for children and adults, a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, an Adult Care Coordinator for the chronically mentally ill adult population and more recently in Child Welfare Permanency Planning Services as a Training and Licensing Program Supervisor. Sheila is a certified trainer in Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence - Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (TIPS-MAPP) and Caring for Our Own (CFOO). Sheila’s commitment to the Human Services profession for over 30 years is due to her passion for helping others and to her belief that she was “called into this profession” to serve. Her favorite quote is “The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence, and educational advantages; the question is what will he do with the things he has” - Hamilton Wright Mabie.

Kim Adcock, a Granville County native is a licensing social worker and training specialist for Wake County Health and Human Services (WCHHS). Kim’s first experience with foster care was within the home, as her parents’ provided kinship foster care services. This personal experience guided her career ambitions whereas she obtained a bachelor’s in social work from Western Carolina University, and a master’s degree in social work from East Carolina University. Upon graduating, she worked as a provisionally licensed clinical social worker providing mental health and substance abuse services to children and families. In 2011, Kim began her career in Child Welfare, where she has served for eleven years. Kim is a nationally certified trainer in Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence- Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (TIPS-MAPP), Fostering and Adopting the Child who has been Sexually Abused, and Becoming a Therapeutic Foster Parent, Caring for Our Own (CFOO), and a rostered facilitator for the Resource Parent Curriculum (RPC) as provided by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Kim is passionate about her work and is dedicated to serving the children and families of Wake County.