Clark County Department of Family Services (CCDFS) foster care manager Jennifer Erbes recently leveraged what she dubbed an “unconventional public and private partnership” with Las Vegas-based Koolsville Tattoo to collect hundreds of donated items for the more than 3,000 county foster children who are awaiting adoptions.
Koolsville owners Robert and Mari Gonzalez launched the drive across all eight of their Valley locations in July.Over the course of six weeks, community members contributed 180 pajamas, 42 stuffed animals, 100 personal care items and nearly 40 boxes of diapers and wipes.
The cause has been “a soft spot in the hearts of our owners for years,” Koolsville marketing manager Zach Saucier says, noting that several of the company’s tattoo artists were also deeply invested in the “huge, mutual group effort.”
“This last drive really resonated with a few of our artists who said it was important to them because they were also from that lifestyle—a foster care situation,” Saucier says. “So, while Koolsville absolutely spearheads these drives, it’s also the artists who are donating their time, supplies and efforts.”
Through July, CCDFS finalized 263 adoptions at an average of 38 per month, according to its most recent report. Erbes, who has led the department’s foster program since 2016, credits city and county officials for bolstering their rehoming efforts by bringing dozens of collaborators like Koolsville into the fold through the county’s Proud Partners Program.
In turn, Saucier says Koolsville tapped into its 120,000 social media followers to help bridge at least one noticeable donation gap after employees noticed “there was actually very little coming in for teenagers.” According to the Nevada Department of Child and Family Services (NDCFS), children over the age of 15 represent just 3% of all Clark County adoptions since 2022.
“Because a lot of these teens are going unrecognized, we created some promotions to push a little bit harder and get more toiletries and things we often take for granted. ... It really stood out to me how people responded and stepped up for that group,” Saucier says.
Allison O’Connor-Lambert, an adoptive parent of three and president of the Hannah’s Closet North foster resource center, echoes Saucier’s observations. Though that donation center, which provides goods to 90 foster families each month, is flush with baby clothes, she says it could use more teenage-centric supplies like sweatshirts, jeans, shoes, cosmetic items and earbuds.
“To be a foster teen, you’ve already been through so much, and we just want those kids to have something special so they can feel good about themselves when they’re going to school,” she says, adding that Hannah’s Closet also hosts support groups and other programs.
The relief these local organizations provide is more than welcome in Clark County, which recorded a 4% year-over-year increase in the number of new youths entering its foster program through June, according to the NDCFS. On average, those kids will spend 17 months in the system.
CCDFS public information coordinator Holly Kelsven says the department is always recruiting new foster parents—particularly those who are open to taking in the 35% of county foster children under five years old or can accommodate three to six siblings at once.
Today, Erbes says more than half of the county’s foster children end up staying with a qualified relative or an unrelated caretaker known as fictive kin. While she currently has around 300 registered regular foster homes and 145 specialty accommodations for “higher need kids” on her side, she says even a few more would go a long way.
“Our licensed families range from retirees, multi-generational homes that have live-in grandparents, singles, married couples and LGBTQ individuals—every and all dynamics,” Erbes says.
She adds that one major qualification is an aptitude for patience as kids work through traumas. According to the latest NDCFS data, 80.6% of county foster children are taken in due to “neglect,” while 27% of cases cite either “parental drug abuse” or “domestic violence.”
Koolsville plans to continue to take part in future campaigns like the county’s Give Joy holiday toy and gift card drive.
“There’s never really a moment where we’re not thinking about giving back to the less fortunate in our community,” Saucier says. “Because we have spent so many years building a brand and doing well, it’s always beneficial to do our best to provide some sort of help—a means to know that these people are being seen, heard and appreciated.”
Interested in becoming a foster parent? Visit clarkcountyfostercare.com for more information.
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