Foster Mom Opens Her Home

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A Moorhead woman has opened her home to dozens of children in the community. She is a foster mom that has an incredible story. 

Carolyn Strnad and her husband always pictured their home as one that would be filled with children.

“We had always wanted to have a large family,” she says.

But after having four birth children, they didn’t realize that doing foster care would nearly multiply that number by ten.

“When you have everything provided for you all the time, you don’t necessarily think about that there are other people who need things that you just take for granted every day,” says Strnad.

Carolyn’s fostering journey started with just one child. But once she realized how many kids in the community were experiencing unfortunate circumstances, she couldn’t stop.

“Sometimes they came to us with nothing but the diaper they were wearing so we had to hurry to get them some clothes and get them food,” Strnad says.

Her grand total: 35 foster kids. And because most of their stays in Carolyn’s home were brief, they will never know who Carolyn is and how she changed their lives.

“It’s really hard to explain how important they are because many folks don’t necessarily understand all of the complexities of the situations kids are in,” says Clay County Social Services Director Rhonda Porter.

Families like Carolyn’s are hard to come by. Clay County is in desperate need of more foster families.

“We are so fortunate to have the families that we have but we need more,” Porter says.

And although Carolyn is no longer a foster parent, she has dedicated her life to helping kids and families much like the ones she once brought under her roof.

“I have over time become an advocate for children with special needs as well as families struggling in our community just to meet those basic needs. It’s not something that I ever thought I would do I was just always going to be a stay at home mom,” Strnad says.

A stay at home mom that has made a lifelong impact on dozens of lives. 

Cass County is in need of foster families as well.

To find out how you can become a foster parent, visit claycountymn.gov or casscountynd.gov.