Empowering Families: How "Honor Everyone" Drives Success in Parent Coaching

Welcome to The Foster Lane – we’re so happy you’re here! If you’re like us, you’ve discovered that traditional parenting techniques just don’t work for your kids. So much has changed in recent decades (especially since the COVID pandemic!): it’s no surprise you’ve discovered that the strategies your parents used with you aren’t right for your family. 

But all is not lost. We’re here to help you navigate 21st-century parenting and equip you with the tools and strategies that work for your family’s unique situation. As parent coaches at The Foster Lane, what drives us is helping you laugh more and yell less. We've completed thousands of hours learning about trauma, child development, and positive parenting: we have what it takes to empower you to be the best parent you can be.

Founder Sarah Salisott started The Foster Lane in 2016, and since 2021 the company has been certified LGBTE® and Woman-owned. Guiding us in our commitment to helping struggling parents and caregivers are our 5 core values: Let’s Go There, Uplift, Honor Everyone, Keep Driving, and Educate & Equip. Learn how we can help you make lasting positive changes in your family by exemplifying our value of “Honor Everyone.”

Understanding The Foster Lane’s Core Value: “Honor Everyone”

To us, “Honor Everyone” means ensuring The Foster Lane is a judgment-free space where everyone is given a voice and a chance and where it’s safe to be authentic.

• Judgement-Free Space

We set aside judgments, assumptions, and differences because they impede connection. You are the expert on your family, and we’re here to support you.

• A Voice & a Chance

We want you to feel seen, heard, and valued. Your insights and contributions are valuable and important. In fact, they’re necessary for us to do our best as your parent coaches.

• Authenticity

We believe that creating a judgment-free space and ensuring you have a voice and a chance helps you safely relax and open up. Being more authentic in your interactions helps us better understand your needs and can help you make meaningful changes.

The Shortcomings of Traditional Parent Coaching Approaches

Sometimes more traditional parent coaches seem to forget what it means to be a coach. Instead of providing tailored support to motivate and guide you to becoming the person and parent you want to be, they share the same tools and strategies with every family.

Given the diversity of our community, a one-size-fits-all approach to parent coaching can’t work. Parents may have similar concerns across cultures, but their perspectives will vary. The United States has been known as a melting pot for over a century, and the diversity continues to increase. However, these changes aren't reflected in the mental health professions. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the majority of social workers and ¾ of mental health counselors are white.

The lack of cultural competence and diversity (in race, age, gender, language, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) in social work can be a barrier to support and even lead to inappropriate or inadequate treatment. The ability to work with someone who shares a similar background or who looks like you can counteract these challenges and make you feel more comfortable. And when you feel more comfortable, it is easier to build a trusting relationship and make authentic change.   

The Foster Lane’s Differentiated Approach: Incorporating Inclusivity & Accessibility

At The Foster Lane, we know the need for competent multicultural parent coaching is urgent. That's why we’re continuously working to be more inclusive and accessible ourselves.

The primary way we do this is through cultural adaptation. We don’t blanket prescribe solutions because we know that would not work for everyone. Research has shown that interventions that aren’t modified to take a family’s language, culture, and context into account are ineffective. Instead, we focus on building a relationship with you. 

Because there’s no family exactly like yours, we take our time to get to know you. By asking questions and listening deeply, we’ll help you identify your underlying needs, overlooked strengths, and parent coaching goals. As we build our coaching relationship, we will see how your language, culture, and values shape you. With this holistic approach, we can recommend interventions that would be most beneficial to you and your family. Our aim is to empower you to continue the work outside of parent coaching sessions. We have seen how participation in one’s own healing journey can improve growth, behavior, and parental satisfaction.

Honor Everyone: Making Parent Coaching More Accessible and Diverse

Accessibility matters. Diversity matters. Representation matters. 

Our core values–Let’s Go There, Uplift, Honor Everyone, Keep Driving, and Educate & Equip–push us to create a place any parent could come to for research-backed parent coaching. 

Though there’s been some effort by mental health professionals to become more culturally competent to better serve their communities, it’s not enough. To do our part and live up to our values, The Foster Lane team is expanding to include Spanish, Hmong, and ASL speakers to overcome cultural and linguistic hurdles. 

We’ve been working to make our other services language-accessible too. Check out our new Spanish-language workshops and see for yourself!