Foster Midland brings the community together to care for foster kids, families

Some people dream of becoming parents, but for Daniel Terhune, it went even further. He dreamed of being a grandpa. Growing up, his parents ran an adult foster care home, and from a young age, he realized how important it is to be loved for, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect. 

Terhune and his wife long talked about their shared goals of becoming foster parents or adopting children one day. They even talked about it on their second date. Today, present-day Daniel is living that dream too, also one that allowed him to follow in his grandpa’s footsteps. The couple founded Foster Midland to provide support and resources for foster families in the community. With the goal of fostering collaboration, mutual support, connections, education, and encouragement, Foster Midland began after the Terhune family became foster parents in 2018. 

In 2019, Foster Midland began as a collaboration with the Department of Health & Human Services and other contract licensing companies and non-profits in the community. The group met at Live Oak Coffeehouse once a month for the first year, with attendance ranging from five to 50 people. Attendees traveled to the open meetings from Midland, Bay County, Saginaw, Mt. Pleasant, and even states over. 

The group was a success, bringing foster families together to share stories, resources, and build community. Their next goal was to increase outreach and opportunities, all while celebrating too. 

“This will be our fifth annual Fosterpalooza event in Grove Park,” Terhune says. “We’ve been putting together this event, bringing together all of the licensing agencies and organizations involved in foster care in our community and region. We bring together other organizations and support services in the community that offer resources to foster parents, foster families, and biological families as well."

"We come together for a night of celebration — honoring their work and sacrifices as well as the work and sacrifices of all the foster care case workers and licensing workers with the agencies that support all the families as well.”

Terhune is aware of the consistent need within every community for foster families, having worked at adult foster care homes. He’s also aware how quickly those involved can get burned out. He and his wife decided to commit their marriage and lives to be involved in the foster care community in one way or another. 

Within their first year as licensed foster parents, the couple took in five kids from 0-18 — some for a couple days and some for a few months. One of the things the couple realized was there was a bit of disconnect and confusion between agencies and the communities they served. 

“The main thing we saw was that there wasn’t a consistent meeting place where if you needed support, if you needed help, if you needed someone to talk to — there wasn’t somebody ready to do that,” he says. “Having that touchpoint, that in-person community and opportunity to communicate was a really valuable resource for us, and has been for other people in our community as well.”

Terhune says his big goal with Foster Midland and Fosterpalooza is to better support families so that more can become a resource to care for kids and invest in the community. Currently, Foster Midland meets at Caregiving Network, on the second Tuesday of each month, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. 

He hopes to maintain the group, and grow it in the future, possibly registering as a nonprofit or connecting with other nonprofit organizations. 

Fosterpalooza 2025 takes place in Grove Park on Tuesday, July 22 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and is free for all. There will be free food, live music, games, and resources from local partners and community resource providers. The event is sponsored by Foster Families Navigation and Resource Center, Wag’n Wagon, Family Fare in Midland, 23 North band, Uplift Creative Center, HighCounty Jumpers, and Live Oak Coffeehouse. 

“If everybody in our community found one thing that they could do to fill a need — whether it was providing donations to the foster closet in the mall, signing up to learn more about being a foster parent, or an alternative caregiver for a foster family, providing jobs to foster youth aging out of the system — if everybody in our community would just do one step, then all of the kids would be supported,” Terhune says. “That’s my dream basically, that we could use this as a tool to meet all of the needs for the kids in our community.”