'This is a crisis situation': Foster children with nowhere to go sleep in Wake County office

Wake County Child Welfare Co-Interim Director Sheila Donaldson was blunt about North Carolina’s social worker shortages as well as shrinking group home and foster parent placement options.

"I believe this is a crisis situation," Donaldson said.

Turning part of an office building into a makeshift shelter for days or even weeks is now a common last resort. On any given night, as many as nine children have slept in the Wake County Social Services Office because of the shortages.

"This is really challenging to sustain and in the best interest of the youth, they’d be best served in other places," Donaldson said.

"It’s heartbreaking," Laura Nicholson said about the entire situation.

Nicholson and her husband are part of the solution. They stepped up during the pandemic to foster three teenagers, giving them a family, not a building.

"You know you’re making a difference.They are directly, positively impacted by your actions," Nicholson said. "You see it every day in these kids."

As Wake County explores new group home partnerships to help children with the heaviest mental health burdens, they’re also desperately recruiting foster families.

"It takes a village," Donaldson said. "It takes the entire community to help these youth."

For anyone thinking of stepping up, Nicholson has some advice.

"You don’t have to be somebody special," Nicholson said. "You just have to be somebody willing to be there for these kids, so, anybody can do it."