Help America's Premature Foster Care Infants !

It's not every day that one of the families gets recognized. 

Help me congratulate our INP family members, Tom and Emma Mutungi, for being recognized by the County of Riverside at last week's annual award ceremony as one of the four top "CAREGIVERS OF THE YEAR"!  

We are incredibly proud of their remarkable accomplishment. 

Congratulations, Tom and Emma!  

You make us all proud!

 To All of our nurses who render loving nursing care to our medically fragile foster care population: Each day, you bring more than just your medical expertise; you bring hope, comfort, and joy to the lives of medically fragile children. Though these children may not speak, their smiles, their eyes, and their improvements are testaments to their gratitude and the profound impact of your care.

Your patience and dedication in navigating their unique challenges do not go unnoticed. You communicate through compassion and understand the unspoken words of those you care for. It is a beautiful, silent conversation between hearts, and it is deeply valued.

Thank you for every soothing touch, every moment of unwavering attention, and every day that you spend nurturing the delicate lives entrusted to your care. You are their heroes without capes, their guardians, and their most cherished friends. 

With heartfelt appreciation... Team Angel Wing 

Our Back Story:

Nurse Linda West-Conforti, RN, new medically fragile foster child's divinely orchestrated foreseeing words shattered nurse Linda's complacency several decades ago and led to her life's mission.
Sammy, born more than four months prematurely at a minuscule weight of 17 ounces to a methamphetamine-hooked mother, languished in a hospital as a foster child for most of his short life.

The day after Thanksgiving two decades ago, at the tender age of 2, on his first outing out of the hospital, Sammy was the size of an 8-month-old baby. He and his new foster mom, nurse Linda, picnicked on a Happy Meal beside a marble shrine at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Lake Arrowhead, near West-Conforti's mountain home.

During Sammy's first picnic, he pointed to the Lady of Fatima shrine and the surrounding carved statues. Sammy told his foster mom-nurse, Linda, "Her name is Mary, and she held me when I was sick. Those angels around her play with me. More babies like me need help."

At that moment, West-Conforti, a neonatal intensive care nurse, knew that God had a divine plan for her and his most vulnerable foster care infants and children like Sammy.
Linda envisioned that she and other nurses would be their devoted advocates and saviors. She aims to save as many of these precious souls as possible and do so "through the hearts and hands of dedicated nurses!"

~ ANGELS IN WAITING WAS BORN ~
Through that divinely orchestrated epiphany, she launched Angels in Waiting in 2005, a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity of nurses, recruiting dedicated nurses for California's medically fragile foster care population.
Many of these infants and children are born premature or with congenital disabilities passed on by drugs and alcohol-addicted mothers. Mothers who have suffered from physical and mental health issues and abuse are now fated for their offspring to revolve in and out of hospitals, enduring multiple hospital procedures and ending up in group homes, institutional care, or failed foster care placements.

The stories of abuse nauseate Nurse West-Conforti. "It got to the point where I'd get the reports and start throwing up at 3 am because the mind doesn't forget these heart-wrenching stories.
Many infants and children become medically fragile at the hands of their parents, like one emaciated little boy, nearly starved to death, fed only milk and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Or the infant girl with a painful ear infection, hurled to the concrete garage floor by her mother's boyfriend to stifle her crying.

Twenty years after establishing Angels in Waiting, AIW has signed on more than 500 nurses who have dedicated their hearts and skilled hands to California's medically fragile foster care population. AIW's networking, exhibitions, website, and relentless battle for medically fragile kids in such situations have paid off; Angels in Waiting boasts a 90 percent adoption rate!
Our founder Nurse Linda West-Conforti, RN, and her family have fostered 17 medically fragile children and are adopting another angel in waiting. "They make my heart sing," West-Conforti said. "Once they call you 'Mommy,' it's all over."

~CAREGIVER TO ACTIVIST~
A massive boon to West-Conforti's outreach campaign was a state law she authored and helped pass in 2013. It requires priority placement of a medically fragile foster child with an independent nurse provider. It allows licensed nurses to work from home, billing Medi-Cal for nursing hours related to the child's care and treatment. "Nurses are natural nurturers, healers, to begin with," "These children thrive in our care, bonding with us nurses." Said Nurse Linda.

Most people's thoughts generally turn to giving at Christmas and the holiday season. So, if you are getting ready to make some year-end donations or want to bask in the giving spirit of the season. Please give to friends and family in need, worthy charities, and causes that help those who needs it the most.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

The Team from Angels In Waiting