A child’s joy and wonder around the holidays, s’mores by a campfire and family bike rides around the neighborhood  — these are a few of Cheryl Miller’s favorite things about being a foster parent.

Cheryl loves to give the children in her home happy memories and positive, family-grounded experiences.

She recognizes that each child has unique interests and enjoys encouraging them — guiding her children to set goals and helping them to reach their full potential.

As a Specialized Therapeutic Foster Parent, Cheryl has an added degree of training to provide care to children with significant trauma and needs.

“In addition to the many children within our community that need safe, loving foster homes, there are children that require a little extra help through the process. I wanted to make sure those children had the loving, supportive environment they needed,” said Cheryl.

“Being a therapeutic foster parent means understanding that the children who come into your home may be struggling emotionally or behaviorally,” said Casey Hendershot, CHS  Foster Care Licensing Team. “Ms. Miller has always risen to the occasion and gives each and every child unconditional love, support, and attention to help them achieve success.”

And her caring support extends into her kids’ biological families. Cheryl has worked with many biological families working to reunify with their children after their time in foster care.

“By maintaining her connections with the children and their families she is able to be an added support to ensure successful reunifications,” says Casey.

But Cheryl says she doesn’t do it all alone.

“Being a foster parent is very rewarding,” said Cheryl. “You have the opportunity to change many children’s​ paths by being a trusting and safe person for them. And when you become a foster parents though CHS. You are not in this alone — you have the support of the CHS team. For example, if you need a break or have something come up where you have to leave town for a couple of days, you have respite care — a team readily available to jump in and help. You have access to a therapist that you can call for support and the Kiddo’s​ get free dental, medical, glasses and more.”

Thank you, Cheryl for all the GOOD you do.

Cheryl wanted to become a foster parent for many years. But as a single woman, she​ worried she wouldn’t qualify to serve the children in her community. Cheryl believed a common misconception — that only two-parent homes are eligible to become foster parents.

Lucky for us, Cheryl didn’t give up on her dream and when she discovered CHS licenses and trains single foster parents, she followed her heart and became a foster parent in 2017.

At CHS, we believe that each child and every families needs are unique and single-parents like Cheryl meet those needs for many children looking for comfort and stability through their foster care journey.

If you’re interested in learning more about fostering visit: chsfl.org/foster today and fill out a referral form to take the first step.