I was asked by my friend and old supervisor to help re-design a local county's foster care visitation room. In case you're not familiar with state foster care, I'll briefly explain the importance of this room. Once a child has been taken into foster care (this used to be my job, to investigate child abuse), the child can visit with family members (mostly supervised) in a small, generally dingy and depressing room known as the "visitation room." You can imagine that these visitations are important for the healing of the family, but the visits can be very painful and bittersweet. It doesn't help that these rooms are generally generic, uncomfortable and not very cheerful. Because my friend is an extraordinary social worker who has never settled for status quo, she has asked me to come in and brighten up the space a bit.
The catch is that the county can only afford $150 for the budget. I, obviously, will be donating my time, but I'm also looking for help with resources. I'd love to put up some wall decals and perhaps a child-friendly art wall after I've re-painted the space. I also think some fun toss pillows would help cheer things up and if I had it my way, I'd throw in a rug (I can always dream, right?)
**If you are an artist, photographer, designer, or someone that wants to help with this project by donating goods that might work for this space, please let me know. I will be happy to offer free advertising space on D&OC for any business that wants to participate. If you have questions, or suggestions, or DIY ideas for the space please leave them in the comments below. I'll be posting ideas and photos as the project progresses. Thanks everyone and have a very happy weekend. xoxo
