In our Staff Spotlight Series, we catch up with the talented, dedicated, and compassionate individuals who help make everything our organization does possible. This month we are featuring Keatha McLeod, Foster Care and Adoption Worker. Read more about Keatha’s work and life below!
When did you join CH/LSS, what is your current role, and what are some of your primary responsibilities?
I joined LSS in April of 2023 as a therapeutic foster care (TFC) licensor. In October 2024, the TFC program merged with the CH/LSS Adoption line of service. Since that time, I have been learning the role of foster care and adoption family worker. In this role, I license homes for foster care and license and support families that know adoption through foster care is their end goal.
What originally drew you to the field of foster
care and adoption?
I was a foster parent in North Dakota for more than 20 years.
I adopted five children and still have a passion to support and serve the children in the child welfare system.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Supporting and advocating for foster parents on their journey of providing a safe haven for children, and watching children grow as they are provided with the stability, love and guidance they need.
Based on your experience working in the field of foster care and adoption, what is something everyone should know about foster care and/or adoption that they might not?
Foster children are not “damaged” children. They are children who have not had any control of where they come from and need the same things and education as their peers. They are often looked down on and blamed for things they have had no control over.
What advice would you give to families thinking of beginning their adoption journey?
Be brave, be bold, and most of all, seek not “what will meet your needs,” but how can you meet the needs of the youth you are hoping to make a part of your family. We are not in the business of finding kids for families, but the goal is finding families for children who need a loving stable, supportive parent/parents who will walk beside the child, not try to change them into something they have dreamed of.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Watching parents grow and stretch beyond their original ideals to encompass and love a child that needs them. On the flip side, seeing a child blossom as they feel more secure.
Switching gears to life outside of work – what does an ideal weekend look like for you?
Time at the lake with a good book or knitting project and/or tending to my bees, trying make sure they don’t swarm and have enough room in the hive to produce a bumper crop of honey.
If you could travel anywhere in the world in the next year, where would you go, and what would you do?
It would be to go to Friday’s Island in the San Juan islands to soak in the sun, watch whales and disconnect from the turbulence in our world.
What is the last book, movie, or TV series you loved?
Medgar and Myrlie by Joy Ann Reid
What is something that always brings a smile to your face?
The belly laugh of a child regardless of their age.
