The Emerson’s Story

Knowing Your Resources

by Maddie Epley

For four years, Aubrey Emerson has spent most of her time surrounded by kids, specifically foster kids. With social workers filing in, one after the other, and kids being placed in her home with barely any notice, it gets hard to breathe. Some days it can be physically and emotionally drained. However, knowing she makes a difference in a child's life is all worth it! 

Programs like WIC (Women, Infants & Children) can only help so much. Although they provide baby food, they don’t provide for kids that have special medical needs or diapers for foster kids and parents that need them. This is the struggle Aubrey has faced, which is why she believes the DEB Project is so important. 

“It’s important, understanding that there’s a resource out there like the DEB Project,” Aubrey said. “They come alongside you to help; you’re not doing it alone.”

A few months ago, a baby came into Aubrey’s care and needed Enfamil, a special baby formula, for her medical needs. Because it wasn’t covered under WIC, Aubrey didn’t know what to do. So, she turned to Sammy Laney, owner of the DEB Project. Sammy was not only able to provide baby food for the whole year to Aubrey but also gave her diapers in her time of need. 

“The DEB Project has been such a great community to us,” Aubrey said. 

Aubrey said the turnover rate for social care workers is so high, and social care workers are stretched so thin, that it’s hard to have reliability and consistency when it comes to helping the kids and foster parents. 

“It’s basically just an open-door policy in our home right now,” Aubrey said. “It can be difficult for working parents.” 

Even though her home can feel somewhat chaotic, she knows there’s always somewhere she can go to make her feel better. Aubrey said the word that comes to mind when she thinks of the DEB Project is community. The DEB Project has always been there and continues to provide for her and her ever-changing family members, however short or long-term they may be.