From the Dugout
On March 9, 2024, Minute Maid Park became a historic landmark in Bananaland. It was there that Banana Ball made its MLB Stadium debut. The 41,000 fans who filled that stadium are an important part of that history. However, for Bananas Foster, real history was made as we celebrated The Coats Family with the biggest Bananaland bunch.
The Coats Family was our Bananas Foster Family (BFF) of the game. Alongside the whole stadium, we celebrated them on the field and recognized their amazing impact within the foster care community. This is an opportunity to educate Bananaland about the reality of foster care in the United States while using the family’s story to inspire others to get involved – and The Coats Family has a story that is nothing short of inspiring!
Although Daniela Coats did not know much about the Savannah Bananas, she knew her husband was a fan. When she received the invitation for her family to be celebrated at Minute Maid Park, she jokingly asked her husband, Aaron, if he knew the team. She let him ramble on about Banana Ball, stating he was “fan-girling” before revealing that they had been invited to join us!
After their experience, Daniela told us, “We had an absolute blast on game day. We were treated like royalty the whole time, and felt so honored to be there.”
However, the honor was all ours here in Bananaland. She told us of how the guys welcomed them…Danny Hosley let their youngest carry around his football during the game, Stilts wanted a selfie with them, and Andy Archer intentionally asked their names and remembered them throughout the night. Bananaland sure has the best teams and we want our BFFs to know that they are a huge part of fan experience! The short view we got of the Coats Family on game day was filled with potassium magic, but their journey didn’t start or stop there!
It All Begins…
This story begins with Daniela’s parents, Darren and Wendy, who became licensed in 2004. Throughout their 10-year journey, they welcomed 13 children into their home and adopted Daniela’s sister. Daniela remembers her parents heavily involving her in the foster care process. They had discussions about adoption, the possibility of receiving sibling groups, and the hard realities that force children into the system. She remembers participating in the home interview, getting their home ready, and making a scrapbook for the children to look through.
Daniela knew that her experience would be beneficial to the social work field, so she obtained a Bachelor and Master’s Degree of Social Work. She chose to work in the foster care world due to her belief that children in care are important. She spent time working at an agency where she recruited and trained foster families. It was there she saw the need for more foster families. She and her husband, Aaron, decided to take the next step and become licensed.
“Growing up in a foster/adoptive family wasn’t all rosy, and I had actually said growing up that I’d never foster or adopt. Joke’s on me,” Daniela said.
She remembers calling her dad crying to tell him they had decided to foster because she never expected to find herself as a foster parent. The foster care community is a better place because of them! They officially became licensed in 2016 and fostered siblings. When reunification was no longer an option, they decided to adopt their older children then gave birth to their biological kiddos.
Making a Difference
Growing up as a biological kid in a foster and adoptive home, Daniela knew firsthand the limited resources and information for families with biological children entering the foster care community. She explained that biological kids do not always get the support they need, and furthermore do not always feel comfortable expressing this. On the flip side, she knows that parents want information on how to best support their children! With all of this in mind, Daniela set out to fill in the gaps where the system often fails to support families.
She started her business, called With Siblings. This mission is to support the birth kids in foster and adoptive families by equipping parents and professionals through training and resources. Through With Siblings, Daniela provides training, advocacy, and other resources related to foster care and adoption when families also have birth children. In order to make the training more widespread and accessible, she collaborates with other foster/adoption agencies and organizations to host training sessions. Daniela takes on speaking engagements to teach listeners and advocate. She also uses her Instagram account, @with_siblings, as a tool to share her mission.
As for the future, Daniela has many goals and dreams in mind; coming up soon is the release of her very own book! The Day Lilly Turned (un)Invisible will be released at the beginning of September. This book tells the story of Lily, a biological child in a foster family, as a new kid joins her family. She finds herself feeling forgotten and worries she may have turned invisible. Daniela says that this story invites readers to, “consider that they are seen and valuable – just because of who they are, not because of anything they have done.” This book is available for preorder on Amazon, click here to order!
Just like this book accomplishes, Daniela hopes to continue spreading awareness of the urgency for people and organizations to recognize the needs of and support birth kids. In the future, whether through speaking engagements, training sessions, advocacy, social media presence, or authoring more books, Daniela wants to continue elevating the voices of biological children!
If it wasn’t clear by the sound of 41,000 fans cheering on The Coats Family in Houston, they certainly are making big strides in the foster care community! What a joy it was to celebrate them on such a big stage as they inspired thousands to get involved.
To watch The Coats Family celebration at Minute Maid Park, click here.
If you or someone you know is a foster family and are interested in sharing your story with us, please visit Tell Your Story.
Created by Rebecca Kluesner, Bananas Foster