Some of the volunteers with Fostering Futures NY Chenango County. The program is currently seeking volunteers to be a part of their network of support for foster and kinship families in the Chenango County area. (Submitted photo)

CHENANGO COUNTY — Fostering Futures NY (FFNY) Chenango County, a program through Improve Norwich Now, is looking for volunteers to join their team. The program was founded in 2019, and serves as a network of support for foster families and kinship families, which are homes where a child was placed with a relative such as a grandparent, in the Chenango County area.

“Parents may have some kind of extended family or a network that helps, right? A lot of foster parents, a lot of foster families, don't have that,” said FFNY Chenango County Program Coordinator Cathy Albrecht. “[We’re] really just extended family. Like what a grandma or grandpa would do, or what close friends would do, or what a church family would do. That’s what our teams do. We’re really less of a resource, more of a support system.”

She added that the program is “foster family driven,” meaning the focus is on the families and what they need.

“As foster parents, they control nothing. You know, they’re really at the mercy of the courts and biological parents,” said Albrecht. “But this program they control, and they do that by working with me and communicating with me, and I'm kind of the coordinator that makes all the pieces fit.”