Parents for Parents: Support That Reunites Families

Every year during Community Program Presentations, we hear directly from the programs working to support families across Grays Harbor County. This year, Grays Harbor Child Advocates shared how the Parents for Parents program is helping families navigate dependency court and work toward reunification with support from people who have lived through it themselves.

Executive Director Anne McEvoy explained that nearly 400 children are currently in foster care in Grays Harbor County, and that most dependency cases involve substance abuse.

"We know through research that children do better when they are raised by their parents." Anne McEvoy, Executive Director, Grays Harbor Child Advocates

Support from someone who has been there

Parents for Parents is a peer support program for parents involved in dependency court. Parents are paired with mentors who have personally experienced addiction, recovery, court hearings, and reunification. Through ongoing classes, peer mentorship, and courtroom support, families receive help understanding what is expected throughout the reunification process.

Parents are connected with treatment and recovery resources, housing support, transportation, food assistance, and other community services. The program also helps parents prepare for hearings and meetings, understand documentation requirements, and navigate a system that can feel overwhelming and intimidating.

Support continues throughout the case and even after children return home.

~400 Children currently in foster care in Grays Harbor County

95% Local dependency cases involving substance abuse

~85% reunification rate for participants

this year

90 Families reunited through Parents for Parents support

This year, we heard from Richard

During this year’s presentation, we also heard from Richard Mitchell, the lead coordinator for Parents for Parents in Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties. Every week, Richard works directly with parents involved in dependency court, helping them understand the process and connect with the resources they need to move forward.

He explained that many parents entering the system are scared, isolated, and unsure where to begin. For him, one of the most important parts of the program is lived experience. Parents are not sitting beside someone reading from a handbook. They are sitting beside someone who understands what they are walking through because he has lived it too.

"I get to sit with people and say, ‘I’ve been there. I know what this feels like. And there is a way forward.’" Richard Mitchell, Lead Coordinator, Parents for Parents

Read Richards Story ->

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