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Willow Haven Adult Family Home, 114 N Olympia Street, Kennewick, WA (2026)

06/18/2026

Meet my mom — Ramona or as some may know her by, Missy — the woman who raised me into this work. 🤍

Long before Willow Haven was an idea, my mom was running an adult family home of her own. I grew up in it — literally. Her residents were part of my childhood. So were the routines, the medication binders, the phone calls at odd hours, the holidays around a bigger-than-usual table.

What I learned watching her isn’t something you can put in a training course:

• That dignity lives in the smallest things — how someone is greeted in the morning, how a meal is served, how a hard moment is met.
• That caregiving is a profession AND a calling, and the best caregivers refuse to separate the two.
• That residents are not patients. They are people. Living in your home.
• That family includes the people who weren’t born into yours.

She is still doing this work today. And she is still teaching me — about patience, about boundaries, about how to handle the moments that other people would call hard but she just calls Tuesday.

Willow Haven isn’t a copy of her home. It’s its own thing, for its own population, with its own specialty. But the bones of it — the warmth, the patience, the slowness, the love — those came from her.

Mom, thank you. For showing me what good care looks like before I had a word for it. 🤍

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/16/2026

Understanding DDA waivers — the alphabet soup, translated. 📝

If you’re a Washington parent of a young adult with developmental disabilities, you’ve probably hit a wall of acronyms. Basic Plus. Core. IFS. CIIBS. Residential. Let me translate.

Basic Plus Waiver

The most commonly granted waiver. Covers personal care, respite, supported employment, and a few other adult services. Most young adults entering adult DDA services start here.

Core Waiver

A step up in service intensity. Offers higher monthly budgets and broader service categories than Basic Plus. Approval is based on assessed need.

IFS — Individual and Family Services

Designed for individuals who live at home with family. Funds in-home supports, respite, training, and family-focused services. Often the first waiver a teen receives.

CIIBS — Children’s Intensive In-Home Behavioral Supports

For children and teens with intensive behavioral support needs. Worth knowing about even if your young adult is past childhood — many of the strategies carry forward.

Residential Waivers (CIIB / Residential)

Supports residential placements outside the family home — including Adult Family Homes, supported living, and other arrangements. This is the waiver category that funds many of the placements families consider when planning for adulthood.

Two important things to know:

• Waivers have waitlists. Apply early — like, years early.
• Your DDA case manager is your best resource. Build that relationship.

Save this post. Share it with another family. The system is hard enough without trying to memorize the alphabet alone.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/16/2026

GRACIE ATE THE VEGGIES. 🎉

Not just ate them — she CHOPPED them. Celery, green bell pepper, red onion, green onion, cilantro — all of it, with a food chopper like a pro. She even opened the cans of black beans herself with the can opener! 🫘

When she moved in, vegetables were a hard no. Tonight she prepared them herself and cleaned her plate. 🥹

Small moments. Big victories. This is why I do what I do. 💚

Shoutout to HelloFresh for our dinner recipe!

06/14/2026

Why we chose 3 beds — not 6, not 8. 🏡

In Washington, an Adult Family Home can serve up to 6 residents. We chose 3.

That’s a real decision. It means smaller margins, fewer residents to share staff costs across, and less flexibility on certain scheduling challenges. Owners considering this question often choose 6 for those exact reasons.

Here’s why we chose 3 anyway:

Everyone is known by name within a week.

Not just “the resident in room two.” Their music, their favorite snack, the texture they hate, the way they want their morning to start. Three is small enough to know.

Routines stay flexible.

With three residents, a calmer morning means breakfast actually shifts. With six, that’s much harder — the schedule has to lead. Three lets the residents lead.

Specialty actually means something.

A 3-bed home focused on young adults with developmental disabilities can build every detail around one population. Six beds across mixed needs means more compromises.

Families get more of us.

Phone calls returned. Updates that aren’t templated. Time for the small conversations that turn into the big ones. Three keeps us human.

Three beds is not better than six. It is a different choice for a different kind of home. We chose three so we could choose every detail underneath it.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/12/2026

Summer programs for DD families in the Tri-Cities — save this one. 🌻

Swipe through for the quick version, or read on for the full breakdown.
I get asked all the time, "Where do I even start?" — so here is a list to keep. Tag a family who needs it. …

📚 Library summer reading programs

Mid-Columbia Libraries (Kennewick, Pasco, Benton City) and Richland Public Library both run inclusive summer programs. Free, low-pressure, and a great regular outing.

🏞️ Parks & Recreation summer offerings

Local parks departments often run adaptive recreation programs — check your city’s P&R website for specialty leagues, sensory-friendly events, and accessible swim times.

👥 The Arc of Tri-Cities & Columbia Ability Alliance

Both organizations offer summer programs and respite supports specifically designed for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Worth a phone call to ask what’s open.

👥 Faith-based summer programs

Many local churches host inclusive VBS programs and summer camps. If you’re part of a faith community, ask. If you’re not, several area churches welcome any family.

☕ Respite providers

Catholic Charities Volunteer Services and several local respite networks can give caregivers a few hours of breathing room each week. Apply early — they fill up.

Tag a parent who needs to see this. And drop your favorite local summer program in the comments — I’m building a list for our future residents and would love your input.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/10/2026

The garden, one month in. 🍅

Time for an update from the great Willow Haven garden experiment.

Jalapeños are in. Tomatoes, bell peppers and herbs are still living their best life on my mental to-do list. The asparagus came up entirely without my help, which is officially the most successful thing in the bed so far.

A few things I’ve learned in the past month:

• A garden is patient, but it does not wait forever.
• The internet will sell you 47 tomato varieties before you can finish your coffee.
• Dirt under fingernails is one of the most underrated forms of therapy.
• My back is a lot less tolerant than it used to be.

I started this garden imagining a perfectly planned, perfectly producing little ecosystem. What I have is more like an enthusiastic toddler — full of potential, slightly chaotic, and surprising me daily.

When Willow Haven opens, the garden will be part of daily life — somewhere to put your hands, watch something grow, and feel like the day was useful. I cannot wait to share it with the families we’ll serve.

Hands in the dirt is one of the most underrated therapies I know — and I’m getting more of it on my schedule this week. Promise.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/08/2026

Summer safety for a young adult with DD — what parents notice first. ☀️🌿

Summer in Kennewick is beautiful — and intense. Triple-digit heat shows up fast, and for young adults with developmental disabilities, summer safety looks a little different than the standard PSA.

A few things I keep in mind:

Heat shows up before they can name it.

Many young adults with DD don’t reliably notice or describe overheating. Watch for flushed cheeks, sudden quiet, slower responses, or a hand on the head before you ask the question.

Hydration is a routine, not a reminder.

Build water into the day at fixed points — wake up, mid-morning, lunch, snack, after every outing. Don’t rely on thirst cues alone.

Some medications change everything.

Several common psychiatric, behavioral, and seizure medications make people more sensitive to heat and sunburn. Worth a five-minute conversation with your pharmacist before summer outings.

Sensory overload is its own kind of heat.

Crowded fireworks, fairs, and pools can be too much, fast. Plan an exit route. Bring noise-canceling headphones. Have a quiet-room backup at home.

Build the quiet hour.

Mid-afternoon, when the sun is hardest, plan an indoor reset hour. Movie, snack, AC, low lights. It protects the whole day.

Summer doesn’t have to be hard. It just has to be planned.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/02/2026

What “supporting independence” actually looks like day-to-day. 🌿

“We support independence.” Every adult family home says it. Most families have no idea what it means in practice. Here’s what it looks like in a real day, in a real home.

MORNINGS

• Resident chooses their own outfit. We help with hard buttons or zippers, not the choice itself.
• Breakfast options are real options. Not “oatmeal or eggs,” but “what sounds good today?”
• Med time is calm, predictable, and explained. Adults deserve to know what they’re taking and why.

AFTERNOONS

• Real work in real life — folding laundry, watering plants, helping with dinner prep. Tasks build skills better than “activities” ever could.
• Outings on the resident’s terms. They want a quiet day? We protect it. They want a long walk? We go.
• Quiet time honored. Rest is part of independence — not the opposite of it.

EVENINGS

• Dinner together at the table. Not in front of a screen. Conversation is a skill we keep practicing.
• Wind-down routines that the resident leads — favorite show, favorite blanket, favorite music.
• A bedtime that feels like a hug, not a lights-out command.

Notice what isn’t on this list:

• Pushing residents to do more than they want.
• Doing things for them just because it’s faster.
• Treating independence as something to perform, instead of something to live.

Real independence is built one ordinary moment at a time. A choice made. A skill practiced. A preference honored. Multiply that by 365 days, and you have a life that looks and feels like a life.

That’s the home we’re building.

Because care should feel like home — and home is where you get to be yourself. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/01/2026

What Willow Haven actually stands for. 📜

Six months ago I started planning this home. As we move closer to opening, I want to put what we stand for in writing — because mission and values are only real if you say them out loud, and live them when nobody is watching.

OUR MISSION

To create a home where three young adults with developmental disabilities are deeply known, gently supported, and given the room to live full lives — with their families as our partners, not our audience.

OUR VALUES

1. Person first, always.

We start with who someone is, not what they need. Diagnosis is part of the story, not the whole story.

2. Home, not facility.

Soft light, real food, real conversations, real life. We are choosing every detail to feel like a place you would want to stay.

3. Specialty, on purpose.

Young adults with developmental disabilities. Three of them. Small enough that no one gets lost, specialized enough that we actually know what we’re doing.

4. Families as partners.

Parents don’t lose their role when a young adult moves in. They are part of the team — always. Sunday dinners, FaceTime, holiday traditions — protected.

5. Slowness as a discipline.

We move at the pace of the resident. Rushing is what facilities do. Home doesn’t rush.

6. Honesty over polish.

We show progress and process. We tell families the truth, even when it’s harder than a pretty answer.

If any of this sounds like the kind of home you’d want for your young adult, follow along. We have a lot more to share as we get closer to opening.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

05/30/2026

The unofficial start of summer at Willow Haven. ☀️

Memorial Day weekend is behind us, the asparagus is in, and the porch is officially open for business.

Here’s what summer is going to look like in this house:

🍅 The garden, slowly earning its keep.

Tomatoes are in. Peppers and herbs are still living their best life on my mental to-do list. The asparagus came up entirely without my help, which is officially the most successful thing in the bed so far. Hands in the dirt is one of the most underrated therapies I know — and I'm working on getting more of it on my schedule this week.

🍽 Long, slow dinners outside.

Burgers, watermelon, summer corn, and the kind of conversation that only happens when nobody is rushing.

🌻 Mornings on the porch.

Coffee. Birds. The sun coming up over Kennewick. There is nothing fancy about it, and that is exactly the point.

🚶‍♀️ Walks at our own pace.

Around the block, along the river, through the park. The point isn’t the distance — it’s being outside together.

👕 Sun hats, swim time, summer slowness.

Sensory needs don’t take the summer off, so we plan for shade, breaks, water, and quiet hours just like we plan for fun.

Summer in a home is one of the most healing seasons there is. The light is longer, the pressure is lower, and there is more room for joy to show up uninvited. I can’t wait to share this one with the families we’ll serve.

Tell me — what is your young adult’s favorite local summer spot? Drop it in the comments. I’m building our outing list and would love your input. 🌿

Because care should feel like home — especially in the summer. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

Willow Haven Adult Family Home

06/18/2026

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