Kim began working with handicapped and special needs children in 1982 while working on her BA Degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She later taught nursery school for KinderCare Learning Centers and volunteered with the Special Olympics before being hired by Lutheran Family Services (LFS) in Charlotte, NC.
Kim began as a Residential Counselor and was soon promoted to Assistant Director of a LFS group home for Adolescents in the foster care system. She was was also responsible for on-call response for six homes of both males and females with serious behavioral problems. This position lead her to opportunities trouble shooting to improve other programs operated by LFS in NC. Her many clients had ADHD, Border Line personality, Conduct Disorders and a multiplcity of tragic circumstances. Some of these kids had violent tendencies, so she was trained in both physical and non-physical therapeutic restraints from a program developed by Cornell University.
Kim returned to California where she became the manager of the Santa Barbara Youth Crisis Shelter operated by Klein Bottle Youth Programs. This co-ed residential facility offered both long and short-term residential care with a 24-hour crisis hotline, drop-in crisis counseling for youth and families and a full range of residential services where she developed a therapeutic miliue. She wrote new policies and procedures while developing a unique behavior modification program that reached many youth who had not responded to other interventions.
There was tremedous growth in both programing and staff during the decade Kim was in charge or the Shelter Programs. Including expanding programs, opening long-term facilities, adding staff and volunteers. She also contracted independently with the Department of Social Services to provide Wilderness Retreats as part of the Independent Living Program for youth aging out of Foster Care.
In 1998 Kim was named "Child Abuse Prevention Hero of the Year," by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
Kim and business partner then opened up an independent Non-Profit Organization called, "Noah's Anchorage." Several months after leaving, Klein Bottle Youth Programs announced it was closing after 25 years, jeapordized the continued operation of the youth shelter which had become an important part of the community. Noah's Anchorage, still a new Non-Profit, won a public bid to take over operations of the Shelter as part of its rapid expansion to later include: staffing respite care for six county Recieving Homes, a Long-Term Group Home for girls and the co-ed youth shelter along with many non-residential counseling Programs and Street Outreach.
Kim was approached to adopt a four year old during one of her wilderness retreats after seven foster homes had been unable to meet the little girls needs. She was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder and had suffered sever trauma. A single parent, Kim's plans all changed when her daughter's birth brother was abused in a foster home three years later. They shortly became a family of three. The special needs of her children and the agonizing length of time it takes for children to heal from such trauma makes Kim uniquely qualified to understand the hurdles facing families who have opened their hearts and homes to children with RAD. During this time, among other Kim spent time training with Foster Cline and others who specialized in children with Attachment and Abuse Issues. She completed her Master's Degree in 2005, which included a six month research practicum where she focused on RAD and the treatment of children and staff training in Residential and Foster Care Placements.
Kim has been helping children, parents and families for more than 20 years. Kim continues to offer support to foster and adoptive parents that may be dealing with many difficult hurdles as they create a healthy family in today's busy world. She has designed behavior modification programs, supervised interventions while working with infants, young children and teenagers. Her Master's in Organizational Mangement produced a detailed training manual for parents and staff of children with Attachment issues while also focusing on Leadership in the Residential Care Industry.
Kim is the proud mother of, now, two Teenagers through the Foster Parent to Adoptive Parent process. Adopting as a single parent gave her insight into the necessary coping skills one must develop to handle the stress of raising children with emotional disabilities while advocating for them in a system of care that is not always prepared to meet their needs, much less understand the needs of parents and other family members. She understands these challenges as well. Through many years of experience with Social Services, Educational Staff, Court Appointed Advocates, therapists and other service providers. Kim knows well that all children and parents are in different phases of the journey and therfore have individual needs and levels of insight. She has tremendous empathy and understanding for parents at any point in the process along with a wealth of experience and knowledge she knows that miracles do happen. Kids in her Residential Programs nicknamed her the "Queen of Second Chances." Many of them felt that they were given a second chance at feeling they were worthy of belonging or being loved.
Mom and daughter meet for the first time. 