Two Ellis moms named Foster Parent of the Year

Two local chapters of the Massachusetts Department of Families and Children (DCF) recently honored Ellis mothers Pamela Schenk and Keri Charles as models of exceptional dedication and foster parenting. Ellis embraced Pam and Keri’s foster children into its community, helping to facilitate the mothers’ exemplary service, and even becoming part of their families.

CEO Lauren Cook says, “Ellis is deeply committed to serving all children and families, including those in the foster system. These children are often among the most vulnerable, and we understand providing consistent, high-quality care is especially critical for their development and well-being. We take great pride in ensuring all children—regardless of their circumstances—have access to nurturing, high-quality early education and care.”

Pamela Schenk was a single mother with two young daughters and a demanding job when Covid-19 hit. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Pam decided it was her moment to give back to the community, and she became a licensed foster parent. In the past six years, she has welcomed eight children into her home.

Pam speaking at annual Celebrating Ellis event in 2024

 “Foster parents are parents,” Pam says. “They are responsible for the emotional, social, educational, and medical needs of their children.” Pam understands the ups and downs of the process. With each foster, she must balance new family dynamics for her two daughters. As the foster child grows more comfortable with Pam and her family, she must also help them cope with the trauma they have experienced.

But Pam remains committed to this work. “Fostering is a labor of love. It’s a blessing to see foster children bond to your family and imprint this moment in their hearts. This is God’s work.”

Pam saw how Ellis’s deep commitment to its students extends to her foster children. “They are never labeled, and everyone at Ellis is totally involved in their care – Lauren, Claire, all the teachers, the social workers. It means so much that these children are as much a part of the Ellis community as anyone else.”

Several partnerships and processes help Ellis support foster children:

• Contracts through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) help Ellis provide care for children with the support of DCF.

• DCF social workers collaborate closely with Ellis to prioritize placements, ensuring children with the greatest needs are identified and placed into care as soon as possible.

• Ellis maintains a separate waitlist for foster care families in order to respond quickly to children experiencing the often tumultuous transitions of foster placements.

Keri Charles was a high-level executive looking to give back to the community when an article about the shortage of emergency foster parents inspired her to become a DCF Hotline foster parent. Hotline parents provide emergency, short-term care for a foster child until a longer-term placement is found.

“I figured I could help out on a short-term basis and provide a safe, loving, and fun environment for a foster child in need, without necessarily committing long-term.”  Keri says. “Being a Hotline parent was a great way to start.”  As a single woman, Keri has brought 30 Hotline foster children into her home.

Keri and her son Shawn

In 2021, while she was working from home during the pandemic, Keri got a call to take in an eight-week-old named Shawn.  Shawn stayed with Keri for a month, but when DCF asked Keri to foster him long term, she was conflicted. “He was such a great little baby, but I had to return to the office, and I needed full-time childcare,” Keri says. Together with a social worker, she contacted dozens of childcare programs across Boston with no luck until she found Ellis.

Ellis accepts state vouchers and made an opening the very next week so Shawn could stay with Keri. “Ellis changed the trajectory of our lives,” Keri says. “At first, I was just focused on securing childcare that was convenient for me and a good environment for Shawn, but Ellis was so much more. Ellis envelopes you into a community of holistic healing and education.”

When he was diagnosed with autism, Ellis welcomed his ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapist into the toddler classroom and worked closely with Keri to address his needs. “Special needs are part of the diversity that everyone at Ellis supports,” Keri says. “Children learn to be supportive from an early age. Plus, the wonderful programs at Ellis like music education, outdoor programming, and STEM enrichment help children of all abilities thrive.” 

Ellis set Shawn on a path to success. After graduating from Ellis, Shawn is now thriving at the Eliot School in the North End.

While she is no longer an Ellis parent, Keri has stayed engaged as an Ellis trustee. “I saw firsthand how every single teacher, administrator, and staff member at Ellis shows incredible dedication, compassion, and thoughtfulness in everything they do. For three years, we raised this child together, and for that, I will be forever grateful.”  But Keri’s story doesn’t end there. She adopted Shawn in June 2025, transforming their foster family into a forever family. She remains connected and committed to the organization that put her life, and Shawn’s, on a new path.