Most days, Katie Welch juggles swim meets, tutoring sessions and dinner at a crowded kitchen table. But amid the noise of family life, she’s quietly building something powerful. Three years ago, Katie launched Foster Light, a nonprofit that offers behind-the-scenes support to foster families across Kansas City.
Welch, a former inner-city art teacher and now mother to six, knows firsthand the emotional chaos and beauty of foster parenting. “Foster Light was born out of my own experience,” she explains. “Foster care is taxing work. Fifty percent of foster parents quit within the first year. For the majority it is because they don’t have the support and resources they need to survive mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.”
Foster Light is a direct answer to that need. It is not just about helping foster kids, though it certainly does that—it is about keeping good foster parents in the game longer, so children experience fewer moves and more stability.
Foster Light’s mission is simple but transformative: keep foster parents steady so children don’t have to keep moving. Because the stakes are high. Katie recalls a young woman she interviewed who had lived in 40 different homes during ten years in care. “That’s a new home every three months,” she says. “Within four years of aging out, nearly half of foster youth are incarcerated or homeless. And the more homes a child moves through, the more likely they are to become part of those statistics.”
“Kids can’t thrive if they’re constantly being moved around,” Katie continues. “The key to changing the trajectory is helping foster parents stay and to do that they need real, practical support.”
Foster Light provides something known as “wraparound care,” a holistic model of support that begins with mandatory therapy—for the foster parents. “Foster kids often get therapy, but we realized our own mental health was falling apart. We were absorbing so much trauma and didn’t know how to parent through it. Therapy made all the difference,” Welch says.
From there, the care plan becomes personalized. Foster Light sends in professional organizers, creates chore and routine charts, provides Instacart memberships, monthly gift cards, cleaning services, laundry help, lawn care—every overlooked need that quietly wears down a foster parent. “The most popular service? Cleaning,” she laughs. “Almost every family signs up for it.”
The goal isn’t to pamper foster parents. The goal is to preserve them. “As a mom, if I don’t have to worry about laundry or grocery shopping, I can be more invested in helping a child acclimate to new norms, help them learn how to regulate their behavior and emotions, and sustain a healthy family unit,” Katie says.
When Katie and her husband Nick’s biological sons were just five and two, their home expanded overnight with three young girls—ages four, two and four months. “We had five under five. It
was insane,” Katie remembers. Three years later, the girls’ birth mom had another baby girl, who joined their home.
She is honest about the overwhelming stress and the need for strong partnership. “Nick is amazing and shares the responsibilities. He took over cooking this year, which is my dream come true. We really try to run a tight ship. All the kids have chores.”
Their backyard, however, tells another story. “It’s full of weeds right now,” she admits. “But I have six kids who are thriving. I know from the outside it may not be pleasing, but we are growing something beautiful and vibrant. For now, my kids have needs and we are choosing them.”
The irony isn’t lost on her. Foster Light is designed to aid in exactly these situations, picking up the pieces so foster parents can focus on the deeper work of healing. It’s about creating homes where kids can settle in and where everyone can thrive.
At its core, Foster Light is about dignity. Dignity for the parents trying their best. Dignity for the children learning, often for the first time, what it means to have their needs met.
“Every child deserves clean clothes, a safe space, and someone who looks at them like they’re the most important person in the world,” Katie says. “We’re not trying to change the whole system. We’re just trying to keep families healthy enough to stay cohesive—and that might change everything.”
To learn more, please visit www.fosterlight.co.