A safe place: How the Knowles family opens their home and their hearts to kids and teen moms
Dawn Knowles said she and her husband Russell were simultaneously excited and scared the first time they welcomed a child in foster care into their home.
But thanks to a random garage sale purchase Dawn had made years prior, any fears — from both sides — were quickly erased in the first moments the nine-year-old girl arrived.
“She came in and she was like, ‘Do you know what Littlest Pet Shops are?’” Dawn said. “And I said, ‘Girl, hold on. Come here.’ And I took her back to where I had a whole toy box full of Littlest Pet Shop stuff that I had bought from a friend.”
The purchase Dawn had made turned out to be the girl’s favorite toy.
“She said, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna be too bad here,’” Dawn recalled.
That was October 2023, and the Knowles had just received their foster care license two weeks prior. But that moment speaks to the heart behind their desire to foster — providing a happy, comfortable home as children go through this tough season of their life.
“I want to be the place that they can come and feel safe,” Dawn said.
Fostering had been on Dawn’s heart for years, but the timing never felt right as they were raising their own two young daughters. The desire persisted, though, and one night after seeing something on TV about fostering, she looked up at her husband.
“He’s like, ‘I already know what you’re going to say,’” she recalled. “He knows me so well after all these years.”
That moment led to the Knowleses researching options, finding Families 4 Families after hearing about them at their church, and getting the required training.
Their home has been full since.
Shortly after welcoming the 9-year-old, they took in her older sister, too. After those two returned to their parents, the Knowleses took in three more sisters the following October. Temporary custody was granted to one of the siblings to continue living with the Knowles.
“She likes being here,” Dawn said. “She came to me hopeless. But then she realized, because she was older, she had more of a decision of what she could do.” The girl’s mom agreed to grant temporary custody to Dawn and Russell.
“She is such a different kid,” Dawn said. “She’s happy and goofy and has plans for the future about what she wants to do. It’s such a change, and it’s just awesome to see.”
For Dawn, witnessing this kind of change has opened her heart to a group often overlooked — pregnant teens and young mothers. She feels that their home can offer a solid foundation for them to launch from.
“I’ve kind of been drawn to them,” she said. “I just want to prepare them for life. I don’t want them to be another statistic and not have anything. I want to be somebody they can bring their kids back to for holidays, and just have a connection of some sort.”
Specifically asking for teen moms is a request Families 4 Families rarely gets, but it fills a need for a vulnerable group.
The Knowles family is currently fostering one of these teen moms.
Since being placed with the Knowleses, they’re teaching her how to drive. They’re working with her to get her high school diploma. They look after her son while she works.
There’s been time for fun, too — Dawn recently took the teen to her first concert, and there are plans to take the whole family to a Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park resort.
“I’m just trying to give her every chance there is out there to make something of herself for her and her son,” she said.
Dawn said Families 4 Families has been an instrumental part of their family’s fostering journey.
“They have been so wonderful,” she said.
She is especially thankful for her case manager, Joanna Baumgartner.
“I could not ask for a better case manager,” Dawn said. “She has been there for doctor’s appointments that I couldn’t make it to. She’s at every court appearance. We have not had to buy a pack of diapers. It’s nice to have that help, that support, with everything.”
This support, and the support they’ve received from their church community and other foster parents in the area, has been especially appreciated during the difficult moments the Knowleses have had to navigate with some of the youth they’ve fostered.
Dawn said they’re seeing the fruit of their efforts through it all — the challenges, the highlights and providing what someone needs in the moment, even if it’s a garage sale toy. They’re grateful to be part of generational change.
“It feels great,” Dawn said. “If I can just plant that one little seed [in someone’s heart] that there are people out there who care and are going to do what’s best for you, it’s worth it.”
