Kari Westby is a Becker mom who’s always looking to help not only her own kids, but everyone she meets. 

Originally from Foley, Kari and her husband, Dan Westby (from Ramsey), have lived in Becker for about 20 years. Kari said Becker was a happy medium between the couple’s home towns and they liked the school district. Together, they have five biological children aged 13 to 23, as well as a couple of grandchildren. 

Kari works as a daycare provider, which she says is how she first found out about fostering children. One of the boys in day care was a foster child. She spoke with his foster parents, and she said it opened her eyes to the need for good foster parents. After that, she and Dan became licensed and have been fostering kids for the last eight years.

Kari says she strongly recommends being a foster parent. She feels rewarded when families can be reconnected. 

“A lot of these parents just don’t know how to parent,” Kari said.

Many parents whose children are in the foster system came from unhealthy home situations themselves. Kari has seen that, with a little mentoring and having a community to lean on, many parents and kids can be reconnected successfully. 

Kari told the story of one mom she worked with who had four kids in the foster system. 

“She just needed to learn how to be a mom,” Kari said.

Kari became the woman’s friend and mentor, and taught her how to raise kids. Kari said she didn’t need someone who would shame her, but rather someone who could just help her.

Today, that mom has all of her kids back. 

It was through fostering that the Westbys were able to adopt their youngest child. Everly is a one year old that the family was happy to welcome. Kari said that Everly’s birth mom asked the family to adopt the baby, as she felt unable to raise her. 

The Westbys were in the process of adopting from India at the time, but decided to put those plans on hold as they took in baby Everly. 

Kari strongly encourages parents who are interested to become licensed foster parents. But she says becoming licensed is not the only way to help. There is plenty of need in the foster community for other ways to help, including running kids to appointments, babysitting, and mentoring parents of kids in foster care. 

Kari says Becker is a wonderful community for foster parents, as there are many churches and other organizations offering support to foster families. 

Rockstar mom that she is, Kari says she will be attending her daughter’s play this Mother’s Day. The Patriot staff wishes Kari and all of the other awesome moms out there a wonderful Mother’s Day, and thanks for all that you do!