About

My name is Dovia Williams (soon to be Winkelmann), and I’m the Founder and Executive Director of Fostering the Journey. I developed a passion for helping others after being apart of the foster care system throughout my adolescent years. For more than 15 years, I’ve been dedicated to working with children and young adults with disabilities in the greater St. Louis area. In 2015, I decided to become more involved in the process of nurturing relationships between biological families in the process of reuniting. I began supervising visits with biological parents and their children with Catch All Falling Stars, an agency committed to providing assistance and support to families wanting to reunite after separation. During my supervising tenure, I realized there was a void in the reunification process that I could help support and encourage.

 

Additionally, there are a lack of resources for children that have been separated from their families. Fostering the Journey is committed to ensuring that children affected and impacted by the foster care system are provided with all necessary tools, strategies, and skills needed to be successful post their exit from the system. As a former foster child, I always felt like I was walking my journey alone. I didn’t realize how prevalent and pervasive the issues of foster care separation and the scars it leaves on families are. There are thousands of children going through the same things I experienced, and I’m committed to aiding in their success. Fostering the Journey was founded so that no child ever has to feel alone in the foster care process.