Every couple of weeks or so, Hamilton County child welfare workers pull out a cot between the desks and file cabinets of their downtown Cincinnati office building and put a child to sleep because they can’t find a suitable family member or an available foster home.

"You are sitting out there, excited and relieved at the same time,'' said Laquita Howell, a foster care graduate who is now a mom, a JFS worker, and Lighthouse Board member. "Lean on your mentors, ask for help when you need it." And perhaps most important, she told them to never give up on themselves: "Keep telling yourself: 'I can finish it. I know I can, I know I can.' "