HOMETOWN HERO: West Palm Beach woman working to support foster families in our area
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A West Palm Beach woman has made it her mission to advocate for some of the most vulnerable kids in our community, and their families.
Bailey Hughes and her husband Josh have had 23 children come through their home since becoming foster parents in 2016.
“We really just felt like it was on our hearts that it was something we needed to do,” Bailey said.
The couple has now adopted four of the children they fostered – Aria and Asia who are biological sisters, Jude and their youngest, Jonah.
“Adoption is more than just saying yes to forever, it’s really learning to walk alongside that child and all the experiences they have.”
Their hands are just as full as their hearts these days, but Bailey and Josh are still working to support other families in the foster care system.
“I knew that experience of a child coming into care and what it looks like when you don’t have anything for them, so I really wanted to bridge that gap where there are items available for families, but no way to get them to them,” Bailey explained. “So we kind of created what we deemed as ‘DoorDash’ for foster care.”
‘The Hands and Feet’ provides foster families from Palm Beach and Broward counties to the Treasure Coast with children’s items donated by the community.
And since Bailey brought the nonprofit to life last year, they’ve helped more than 1,000 kids.
“We deliver tangible items, but we know that it’s so much more than that because these children are knowing that they’re loved and worthy and people care about them, and I think that’s our goal to be able to do that,” Bailey said.
Her work doesn’t stop there though, Bailey is also a board member for Center for Child Counseling where she’s serving as an advocate for children who have experienced trauma.
“While the system is really broken, we get to see how people can come together to heal different parts of a child’s life so they can make it better for them or the next generation.”
Renee Layman, who is the President and CEO of Center for Child Counseling, says Bailey is a powerful voice for the organization
“She helps us think about things we never would have so from that mom perspective and the way we can improve the services we provide, and it’s been critical,” Layman said. “I just wish we had more people like her in our community to really make a difference.”
