How Angels Foster Care Helps Children in Dark Times

The Masons, a foster family in Orcutt, have created a home for three children since 2023. Every placement was meant to be temporary, they would tell themselves. The goal of Angels Foster Care — the private agency they work with, which provides care for infants and toddlers in Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo — is, first and foremost, to provide a loving home for kids in tumultuous situations and eventually reunite them with their birth family. 

But that does not lessen the emotional impact. 

Josh Mason said that if someone had asked him three years ago whether he could see himself being a foster parent, he would have laughed. They have four biological children. On top of that, “I didn’t think we had it in us,” he said during the agency’s fundraising luncheon at Glen Annie Golf Club on April 30. 

Surrounded by spring florals and tables filled with family, friends, and empathetic strangers, the couple shared their story. 

“We didn’t think we had the strength to step into the trauma that often comes with foster care,” Mason said. “But it turns out, that version of us from a few years ago had no idea what a gift this would be … and we always knew that we could love any baby that was placed in our home. But what terrified us was the goodbye.”

Each time they have welcomed a little one into their home, he said, they have had to say goodbye. But it never gets any easier. 

“And each time, we cried as we buckled them into their car seats, and sent them away with a bag of blankets, clothes, toys, diapers — everything that we could give them,” he recounted through tears. 

“The grief that you experience having loved a child and sending them back to their family is beyond words, but there’s also something deeper,” Mason continued. “There’s a quiet peace in knowing that their hearts can begin to heal because they’re back with their family, and that’s what every child deserves.”

One day, they were paired with a 4-year-old boy, who will be called S to protect his privacy. 

“He arrived, brave in a way that no 4-year-old boy should be,” Mason said. “He was scared, but he didn’t want anyone to see it. He slowly let his guard down, but he immediately fit into our family like he always belonged.”

They took care of S for a year while his mom got her life back on track, developing a close and loving relationship with both of them. Eventually, the day came where it was safe for S to go back home with his mom. 

“I’ll never forget that day we were in the school pickup line picking up my other kiddos, and [S] rolled down the window and shouted to all the kids, ‘I get to go home to be with my mommy,’” recounted Amber Mason. “And he looked at me and said, ‘Why is there water pouring down your face?’ And I told him, “Those are happy tears, because we’re so happy you get to be with your mom, but we’re going to miss you so much.’”

However, less than a year later, S was placed back in foster care with the Masons. After a long journey, this January, the Masons officially adopted S into their family. He is now almost 7 years old.

“This has not been an easy road, especially for [S]. But one thing has remained clear, [S] deserves a safe place to land, a place where he gets to just be a kid, the baby of the family,” Amber said. 

“He has a big story, and he is the hero of that story,” she said. “He has changed all of us for the better…. This work is hard, and there’s no way around that, but there’s so much beauty because being a part of Angels means we get to bring light into some very dark moments for children right here in our own community.”

Angels Founder Meichelle Arntz explained that while the goal is to return the child to a safe home with their birth family, if that doesn’t happen, Angels families often adopt, “then we grow some families around here.” 

Since its inception in 2006, Angels has placed more than 330 children in safe and stable homes, explained the agency’s new executive director Jacqueline McDonough to the crowd at their 13th annual Al Fresco Luncheon. Of these children, 168 were adopted by their Angels parents, while the others were reunified with their birth parents or placed with extended family members.

Attendees were dressed in ‘20s fashion — with feathers and pearls and knee-length dresses — for the Spring into the 20s theme, celebrating the agency’s 21 years of serving babies and toddlers on the Central Coast. Donated raffle prizes, including weekend getaways and spa days, and auction items raised thousands of dollars for the organization, which it will use to support foster families, connect more young children in need with safe homes, and maintain their kinship program.  

Many Angels foster families were in attendance, as well as longtime Angels supporters and elected officials. Santa Barbara City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez said he recently met with McDonough and was “really moved by all the good work they do for the community, making sure these children have a good, healthy home they can grow up in.” While most of the agency’s work is in North County, every now and then, they do have families in the city.  

“It’s been proven time and time again that in order to have a healthy, thriving community and society, you need to start literally from birth,” he said. “So if we don’t have organizations like this that are taking care of the future generations to make sure that they have a good environment to grow up in, then our society would collapse, right?”

Angels provide informational sessions for prospective foster families, who must meet certain eligibility requirements. To learn more about fostering, or to donate to Angels, visit here.