For about twenty years, Joanell Zimmerman served as a Shelter Parent to more than ninety children who were in distress or abandoned and who were picked up by the police. Most were very young, from newborns to five years old.

Their stay with us was designed to be a few days until the courts or Child Protection could make a determination as to where the children should be placed. Sometimes, matters were resolved quickly but sometimes longer stays were necessary. Among the longest were two sets of twins, both sets were girls less than two years old. One set of twins were with us for nine months and the other for seven months. A more typical stay was around one month, or slightly longer.

In total, our family hosed more than ninety children during a period of about twenty-years.

In 2005, the University of St. Thomas Magazine published the article shown below.

Foster Children

Joanell's Work with Children

Joanell and Fred Zimmerman had five children of their own, which was enough work all by itself. They were all good kids, but even good kids take time and attention. Joanell was always the family matriarch and there was often something for the parents to do. But when our youngest sone Hans was diagnosed with liver cancer at 23 months old, Joanell thought that we should do something for someone else as a offering to help Hans survive. So, she began taking on the project of caring for children who had been displaced because of external factors in their own lives.