The Team
From author to illustrator to distributor, every step of making My Foster Care Journey required someone's expertise and generosity in giving their time to this project.
Nina Zaremba
Creator, Author
Nina Zaremba is an undergraduate student studying Criminology at the University of Florida, planning to graduate in 2023. She graduated from A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach in May 2019, majoring in the Visual Arts, which allowed her to curate the illustrations for My Foster Care Journey. Nina started working on this project in 2017 for her Girl Scout Gold Award, completing it after two years in September 2019. With more sponsorships, Nina will hopefully be able to continue this project, distributing My Foster Care Journey to kids beyond West Palm Beach, to foster children all over Florida and one day, all over the country.
Laura Brannon
Illustrator
Laura Brannon is currently a senior at A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. She started making art four years ago and plans to pursue fashion and apparel design in college. She is an active member of the National Art Honor Society and has received honorable mentions from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Clara's Secret Shepherd
Sponsor
The vision of Clara's Secret Shepherd is to inspire people to make a difference in the lives of abused, abandoned or neglected foster children in South Florida through financial generosity and volunteer commitment.
Their goal is to raise money and awareness for the hundreds of foster children in South Florida and the thousands across the country who are living in limbo waiting to be reunited with their relatives or be adopted by non-biological “forever families.“
Maria Bond
Informant
Maria Bond is the Director of Special Projects at Friends of Foster Children. More recently, Maria became involved with the Palm Beach County cross-system Youth 100 team which focuses on reducing homelessness in youth and young adults in our area.
In addition to her extensive non-profit and child welfare background, Maria and her family have both fostered and adopted children from the foster care system. Some of Maria’s accomplishments include her work as an Executive Board Member with the Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association and as the Coordinator for the Palm Beach County Back to School BASH which provides school supplies to over 10,000 underprivileged children in Palm Beach County.
Maria has a passion to continue helping the young people in our community thrive and succeed and become productive members of society. Whether it is teaming up collaboratively or developing a program to find a solution to a societal issue, Maria has made it her life’s work to create solutions for success when it comes to the young people in our community.
ChildNet
Distributor
"ChildNet has been chosen by the Florida Department of Children & Families to serve as the Community Based Care (CBC) lead agency in both Broward and Palm Beach Counties. As such, it is the single private non-profit entity responsible for managing the local system of services and supports for the communities' most vulnerable children. Our system of care was developed with extensive input from local stakeholders and its effective implementation depends upon their continued support."
Kinane Corporation Commercial Printing
Printer
Kinane Corporation Commercial printing is a printing company whose goal is "to provide their customers with the highest-quality products and services possible in a timely fashion and at a competitive price. We promise to listen to our customers and help them achieve their business goals. We will always be there with honest, expert advice and quick, friendly customer service."