Local foster families are grateful for North Idaho's first responders.

Several families gathered Nov. 14 at the Cove in Post Falls for the Cards for Community Heroes foster family service project, led by Fostering Idaho Region 1 recruitment coordinator Shae Mouchett. Nearly 450 cards and posters were crafted by hands big and small.

On Tuesday, Mouchett and her family visited area fire and police stations to deliver those tokens of heartfelt appreciation on behalf of the foster family community ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

"With everything that happened in our community over the summer, we wanted to express our gratitude to them for all that they do for not only the community at large, but for our foster families and vulnerable children," Mouchett said, referring to the June 29 shooting and fire on Canfield Mountain that claimed the lives of Battalion Chiefs Frank Harwood and John Morrison and critically wounded Engineer David Tysdal, who is still recovering.

With three of her little ones in tow, Mouchett began the delivery journey at the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department on Foster Avenue, where the family presented the firefighters with handmade gifts of gratitude.

"That's great, thank you. You guys have been busy," Deputy Fire Marshal Craig Etherton said as he accepted a poster from 9-year-old Bella Mouchett. "That's just amazing."

Bella handed Etherton a card on which she had drawn a picture of a fire extinguished by a hose. In it, she wrote, "Thank you for saving lives and risking yours for us. I am so grateful. Thank you also for keeping us safe!"

"They help us and they save lives," Bella said.

Etherton said with a smile, "That's it, that's what we do, boiled down to a nutshell. We just try and help."

The children were soon wearing Coeur d'Alene Fire stickers and shiny red plastic firefighter hats, touring the fire station and finding themselves in the driver's seat of a fire engine.

"It's fun, we always enjoy having people over and doing things," firefighter Chad Tortorelli said as he lifted the kids into the fire truck and helped them back down.

"Did you see the big hose on the side? Do you know what this hose is for? You know where the fire hydrants are? That's how we get the water into the truck, we have to have a big hose hooked to the fire hydrant to get to the little hose to put the fire out."

Shae Mouchett adopted two of her four children through foster care, a cause she deeply cares about and advocates for through her work with Fostering Idaho. This Coeur d'Alene nonprofit aims to build a community of well-educated, trained and supported foster parents and families to meet the needs of Idaho's kids in foster care. 

According to its website, fostering Idaho's core values means "foster dignity, respect diversity, honor experience, serve with integrity and support with compassion."

Fostering Idaho families to connect at least once a month to play board games, have movie nights, go to a park or enjoy some other activity in the community. Mouchett, who coordinates these activities, wanted to do something a little different in November, the month of giving thanks, so she organized the Cards for Community Heroes event.

"I was very happy to be able to come and give back," foster mom Tamara Svoboda said. "As a foster family we are given so much, and I was happy to be able to have my boys learn about service."

Mouchett said the cards had heartwarming messages, especially from the children who may have experienced a fire or encountered law enforcement early in their young lives.

"I looked through every single card, and it was really cool," Mouchett said.

According to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, 2,600 Idaho children were in out-of-home placements in 2024. As of June 30, 2024, 1,400 children across the state were in foster care.

About two-thirds of kids in foster care reunite with their families. Foster parents are part of a professional team that includes parent(s), family services workers, court-appointed special advocate/guardian ad litem, court personnel, therapists, school staff and others. They support birth families toward reunification, but in the interim, they provide safe, loving, temporary care for children whose parents cannot safely meet their needs. The majority of youth who cannot safely reunify with their parents/guardians will achieve permanency through relatives, kinship families or foster parents.

Mouchett said kids in foster care interact with police and first responders more than children who are not in foster care, and those interactions aren't always positive.

"There's a negative view that they have because a lot of times it might be associated with losing their parents," she said. "We have a couple events a year where we have a firefighter or fire truck come, and it's a great way for them to see them in a positive light and truly gain that perspective of, 'These people are there to keep us safe and support us,' because they might not have experienced that before."

 Coeur d'Alene Deputy Fire Marshal Craig Etherton is all smiles Tuesday as he accepts a "thank you" poster, delivered by mom Shae, 3-year-old Carter and 9-year-old Bella Mouchett on behalf of Fostering Idaho families.
  

    A "thank you" card featuring a picture of a fire being put out was among the 450 cards and posters from Fostering Idaho families distributed Tuesday to first responders in the community.
  

    Firefighter Chad Tortorelli helps Gabe Mouchett, 6, down from a fire truck on Tuesday at the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department on Foster Avenue.
  

    Carter Mouchett, 3, enjoys inspecting a vintage fire truck covered in Christmas lights on Tuesday at the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department.