Aurora foster parents raise money for passenger van to help more families in Colorado
There are over 4,000 Colorado children in foster care and not nearly enough foster homes to take them in. A young couple in Aurora has helped dozens of kids. Now they're asking for the community's support to help them continue changing young lives.
Like many parents, Nick and Stephanie Lyddon have their hands full, but their family is far from ordinary.
They have two sons of their own and are currently caring for five foster children, ages 2 through 17.
"We wanted to have a home where we could keep kids together because we know that kids have much better outcomes when they stay with their siblings," explained Stephanie. "The reason we've had so many kids is because we've had a lot of sibling sets."
In three and a half years of being certified foster parents, they've welcomed 38 children into their home.
"Our families said we were crazy," laughed Nick. "It's challenged me and Stephanie in ways that we never thought it would. We've learned a lot about ourselves. Every time you have new kids in your home, your family unit, and dynamic changes."
Along with those changes comes a change in family needs. There's plenty of space for the kids inside, but space in their vehicle has disappeared.
The family has outgrown their Honda Odyssey minivan.
"We've talked about buying one of those short school buses, but they don't have seatbelts," laughed Stephanie. "We're aiming for something that's reliable, something that fits everybody, something that's going to be safe for the kids because we have a responsibility to keep all these kids safe."
They would like to purchase a passenger van, but they're not cheap. The family is hoping the community will pitch in to help.
They started a GoFundMe page called "Buy a 15 passenger van for a dynamic foster family."
"We are also active in the foster care community and often transport additional kids from other foster families to support their needs. We can easily have 10 kids to transport to visits with biological family, school, therapy, court, plus last-minute things like collecting sick kids from school, and the list goes on," Stephanie said.
A larger vehicle means they can keep more families together. The van's out of space, but the couple's hearts are not.
"You go into foster care thinking 'I'm going to change their life by bringing them into my home.' But what really happens is you bring what they've experienced into your life. My worldview has opened up and changed," said Stephanie. "As long as we can be a safe, loving place for these kids then we're going to keep doing it."