Willow Haven Adult Family Home

Willow Haven Adult Family Home Follow for monthly licensing updates and DD family resources in the Tri-Cities!

Welp, July was one heck of a month for us at Willow Haven! Gracie and I attended a Dust Devils baseball game ⚾️🧢🏟️The AC...
08/07/2026

Welp, July was one heck of a month for us at Willow Haven!

Gracie and I attended a Dust Devils baseball game ⚾️🧢🏟️

The AC took a quick nap on us during the hottest time of our year. 💨🔥🥵☀️

Our upstairs walk in tub leaked and caused water damage in the ceiling of my daughter’s room ☔️🛁

We attended multiple rodeos to go to with my daughter for her drill team. 🇺🇸🐎🤠

We took a trip to the zoo! 🐒🦍🦁

We went to the a local demo and race night! 🏎️🛻🛞

We conquered our annual week long camping trip, but had to leave a day early due to the fires surrounding us 🎣🏊‍♀️🏕️

We’ve been busy making memories & celebrating our wins!

🎉 Home Warranty covered the AC repair!
🎉 A small bathroom remodel helped with the leak! It also helped open up the bathroom!
🎉 Gracie got to catch a bunch of candy at the parades for the rodeos! She also got to participate in the Rascal Rodeo event at the Toppen*sh Rodeo!
🎉 We didn’t get many photos from the zoo! But we enjoyed the carousel ride & all the animals!
🎉 Gracie loved using binoculars to watch all the live action!
🎉 We swam our hearts out! Gracie swam to the dock and jumped off multiple times! ❤️☀️ She even tried out the paddle board!
🎉 We played bingo at camp, colored tons of pictures and even played card games with friends from another adults family home!

We’re out of here! Trailers loaded, gangs loaded up and we’re headed camping for the week! Lots of lake time, sunshine, ...
07/27/2026

We’re out of here! Trailers loaded, gangs loaded up and we’re headed camping for the week!

Lots of lake time, sunshine, relaxing and berry picking is in the forecast!

Be prepared for summer time camp spam & so much more when we get back from camp!

Person-centered planning — what your loved one’s plan should actually include. 📖Most DD families have at least one “plan...
07/01/2026

Person-centered planning — what your loved one’s plan should actually include. 📖

Most DD families have at least one “plan” in a binder somewhere — an IEP, an ISP, a PCSP, a care plan, a behavior plan. Some of them are gold. Many of them are forms someone filled out and filed.

Here’s what a person-centered plan actually needs to include if you want it to be useful day-to-day:

Goals from the resident, not the system.

“Make my own lunch on Saturdays.” “Go to the Saturday market once a month.” “Call my sister every Sunday.” Real, specific, owned by the person.

Concrete daily preferences.

Favorite breakfast. Hated texture. Calming music. Names for things they care about. The details staff need on day one.

A communication profile.

How does this person communicate yes, no, pain, joy, frustration? Words? Gestures? Devices? Pictures? It’s the most-skipped section in most plans, and the most important.

Family voice — present but not dominant.

Family input matters. Family veto over a resident’s self-defined goals does not. A good plan holds both.

A real review schedule.

Plans go stale fast. Quarterly review at minimum. Annual at the legal floor.

A version caregivers actually use.

If the plan lives in a binder no one opens, the plan doesn’t exist. Print the daily one. Stick it on the fridge.

The plan isn’t the point. The person is. The plan is just how we promise to remember.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

The team you don't see at Willow Haven. 🤍When we open, the team you'll meet — me, Prestin, future staff — won't be the o...
06/30/2026

The team you don't see at Willow Haven. 🤍

When we open, the team you'll meet — me, Prestin, future staff — won't be the only people who built this. There's a whole quieter team behind us. They deserve their flowers.

Here's who else is making Willow Haven happen:

My mom.

Running her own AFH and still answering my late-evening texts. Decades of wisdom, served in 30-second voice memos.

My dad.

The man who has handled more small projects around this house than I can keep track of. Every time I think I need to call a contractor, he shows up with his toolbox first. Willow Haven exists in part because he kept saying yes.

My daughter.

Our household runs because she runs it. She makes sure everything is in its place — and somehow keeps the entire menagerie alive while she's at it. Two dogs, a cat, two bearded dragons, and a horse off-site. She is quietly holding our home together in a hundred small ways, and Willow Haven is possible in part because of her.

The mentor providers.

AFH owners further along in the journey who have generously answered questions I didn't know I needed to ask.

The inspectors and case managers.

The people who slow this process down on purpose — and I am genuinely grateful for it. Slow means thorough. Thorough means safer.

The trades.

Plumbers, electricians, contractors — the people who turn a regular house into a home that can pass inspection AND feel like home.

The DD community of parents.

Every parent who has DMed me a story or a tip or a hard truth. You are shaping how I think about every detail.

Family and friends.

The people who have eaten reheated dinners, watched the kids on long planning days, and kept asking how it's going.

If you're on this list — thank you. None of this is happening without you. 🤍

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

Helen Keller Deafblind Awareness Week — what universal access looks like in a home. 🌿This week we honor Helen Keller and...
06/27/2026

Helen Keller Deafblind Awareness Week — what universal access looks like in a home. 🌿

This week we honor Helen Keller and the deafblind community. It’s also a chance to talk about something every home should think about — even ours, where residents may not be deafblind.

Universal accessibility means designing a space so that the broadest range of people
can use it well. Not just “not a barrier” — actually welcoming.

Here’s how that’s showing up in how we’re designing Willow Haven:

Sight.

Good lighting in every space. Contrast on stair edges, doorways, and switches. Clear sightlines from common areas to bedrooms.

Sound.

Rugs to absorb noise. Bedroom doors that actually close. Outdoor space for residents who need to step away from sensory load.

Touch & texture.

Furniture you can find by feel. Different textures in different rooms — soft chair here, smooth table there. The house can teach you where you are.

Communication.

Visual schedules, written backups for spoken instructions, willingness to use AAC and gestures alongside speech. We meet residents where they communicate from.

Calm pathways.

From bedroom to bathroom to kitchen — short, clear, low-clutter. Especially important at night.

Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” That’s the bones of how we think about access in this home. Together.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

A few things caregiving has taught me. 🤍Without sharing anything that isn’t mine to share, I want to tell you about the ...
06/27/2026

A few things caregiving has taught me. 🤍

Without sharing anything that isn’t mine to share, I want to tell you about the lessons that come with this work. Some of them are big. Most of them are small. All of them have shaped how I’m building Willow Haven.

Patience is a muscle, not a personality trait.

You don’t have it; you build it. And on the days you don’t feel like you have any, you build a little more.

A calm voice carries further than a loud one.

In hard moments, the tone you choose is the lesson. Every. Single. Time.

Routines are a love language.

Predictability says “I see you, I planned for you, you are safe with me.” Spontaneity has its place, but so does the same mug at the same time every morning.

Tired is not the same as defeated.

Caregivers can be exhausted and still show up well. The two are not opposites.

Small wins are the work.

Not the milestones. Not the big breakthroughs. The fact that today went a little better than yesterday — that’s the whole thing.

Love expands.

You don’t love the residents you care for less because you also love your own family.

The heart isn’t a finite jar.

I carry these lessons into every decision for Willow Haven. The home we’re building is built on them.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

What “specialty care” actually means — and why it matters for your young adult. 📚You’ll see the phrase “specialty care” ...
06/24/2026

What “specialty care” actually means — and why it matters for your young adult. 📚

You’ll see the phrase “specialty care” on a lot of Adult Family Home pages. Most families I talk with aren’t sure what it really means. So here’s the honest version.

Specialty care is not just a checkbox on a license application. In Washington, AFH providers can specialize in mental health, dementia, developmental disabilities, or a combination. Each specialty requires additional training and ongoing competency.

But that’s the regulatory definition. Here’s what it actually looks like in a home:

It looks like knowing the trajectory.

Young adults with DD have a particular developmental path. A specialty home understands what changes at 18, 21, 25, 30 — and prepares for it.

It looks like understanding co-occurring conditions.

Anxiety, sensory processing differences, epilepsy, communication needs, medical complexity. A specialty home expects them, plans for them, and isn’t surprised by them.

It looks like communication that meets the person.

AAC devices, picture schedules, sign, gestures, plain English, slowing down. A specialty home meets a resident where they communicate from — not where staff finds convenient.

It looks like a home built for the long term.

Young adults with DD are starting a new life chapter, not winding one down. The home has to be a place to grow into, not just settle into.

Specialty isn’t a marketing word. It’s a promise about what we know, what we train

for, and what we are willing to build differently.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

Meet Prestin — and how the team is coming together. 🤍Some of you have met Prestin already. For those who haven’t — let m...
06/22/2026

Meet Prestin — and how the team is coming together. 🤍

Some of you have met Prestin already. For those who haven’t — let me introduce one of the people who is making Willow Haven what it’s becoming.

Prestin is my baby brother, and he’ll be our onsite maintenance man & part time caregiver. He has a strong mechanical background, as well as growing up in an adult family home like me, and he’s the kind of person who goes with the flow.

What Prestin brings to Willow Haven:

• Mechanical skills
• Willingness to take on any project, even when it's his sisters crazy idea 🤪🤪🤪
• Calm to my chaos - sometimes I get overwhelmed, he helps bring me back down and be the calming presence we all need 🧘

Building a home like this isn’t a solo project. The best AFH I’ve ever known had a team that genuinely liked each other — and trusted each other on the hardest days. That’s the standard we’re building toward.

More team introductions coming in the weeks ahead. Every person at Willow Haven matters. Every detail is on purpose.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

To the dads of young adults with developmental disabilities — we see you.The dad at every IEP meeting. The dad who learn...
06/21/2026

To the dads of young adults with developmental disabilities — we see you.

The dad at every IEP meeting. The dad who learned to braid hair. The dad who modified the bathroom himself. The dad who showed up after the diagnosis when others stepped back. The single dad. The grandfather raising his grandchild. The dad who is no longer here, but whose love still shapes the day.

Fathering a young adult with DD is a kind of love the world doesn't talk about often enough. It is steady, patient, unglamorous, and it lasts a long time.

Today, and every day — thank you.

Because care should feel like home. 🌳

— Jess

Owner, Willow Haven Adult Family Home

Address

114 N Olympia Street
Kennewick, WA
99336

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