About us
Our History
In 2002, Judy Cockerton established the Treehouse Foundation. As a foster/adoptive parent, educator, and social entrepreneur she saw the tremendous need for new ways to support the success of children who have been through the child welfare system.
The Timeline
2002
Judy Cockerton established the Treehouse Foundation to inspire a re-envisioning of foster care, addressing the national “aging out” crisis.
2006
The first Treehouse Community opens in Easthampton, MA, an area with a disproportionately large number of children in foster care.
2009
Visionary philanthropist Joan Hastings reads Judy’s blog post about ReEnvisioning Foster Care in America. She underwrites a conference.
2010
The Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) movement launches at our first conference in Holyoke, MA
2011
The Treehouse Foundation pioneers the HEROES Youth Leadership Program for young people ages 14 – 24 in Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley.
2012
AARP recognizes the innovation of Treehouse and awards Judy Cockerton the prestigious Purpose Prize.
2014
Treehouse honors the first REFCA Champions, including foster care alum and visionary, Sixto Cancel.
2015
HHS awards Treehouse the Adoption Excellence Award for outstanding accomplishments in achieving permanency for children waiting in foster care.
2018
The Council on Aging names Treehouse Innovator of the Year Encore awards Judy Cockerton the Public Voices Fellowship, honoring leading thinkers working at the intersection of aging, longevity, and social justice.
2018
Encore (now CoGenerate) awards Judy Cockerton the Public Voices Fellowship, honoring leading thinkers working at the intersection of aging, longevity, and social justice.
2020
Partnering with local chefs, Treehouse creates innovative pandemic fundraising with Stir Up Some Love, an online cooking series, raising $160K.
2021
REFCA Champion honor roll grows to 50 lived-experience leaders who are changing foster care for good nationwide.
2022
Innovate! Podcast seasons 1 & 2 launch featuring 40 REFCA Champions with host Angela Tucker.
2023
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts recognizes the power of the Treehouse intergenerational community model and earmarks $2MM for expansion. Treehouse partners with 2Life Communities to develop a new, urban Boston site with 60 affordable homes.
One woman’s vision creates a community and a movement
How it started
It started with Judy Cockerton becoming a foster parent and realizing that resources were scarce, if nonexistent. Where were all the people, programs, innovation and support for families fostering and adopting children from child welfare?
Creating a community
Growing into a movement
The Treehouse team recognized that child welfare reform was suffering from the lack of the wisdom and leadership of those who had directly experienced foster care. In 2010 Treehouse began the ReEnvisioning Foster Care movement to make the dialog surrounding foster care and child welfare smarter and more productive.
Judy Cockerton explains the genesis of Treehouse in very personal terms.
One evening in the fall of 1998, my husband handed me a newspaper article as our family was finishing dinner. “I think you’ll find this interesting.” he said. Our children by birth, ages 12 and 18, were gathering up their plates as I read a story about a five-month-old boy who was kidnapped from his crib while taking an afternoon nap in his foster home.
At the time, I owned two award-winning specialty toy stores in Massachusetts — fabulous family resources that I had spent 16 years building up — and where I imagined I would be working when I became a grandmother.
I finished reading and called my family back to the table to talk about what I had just read. We discussed the fact that when children are removed from their homes and placed in our public foster care system, we are all responsible for their well-being. We talked about the stigma and invisibility of youngsters who experience foster care. Our conversation led us to the conclusion that we had the resources and desire to be of service to these vulnerable kids. We decided to call the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and become a foster family.
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On May 11, 1999, the morning after we completed our foster parent training classes, I received a call at No Kidding! from a DCF social worker asking whether we were ready to become foster parents. I made a quick call to my husband, and he said, “Yes!” When I shared the good news with the social worker she said, “We’ll be at your house in two hours!” I quickly made arrangements to pick up our 12-year-old daughter from school. We ran to purchase a car seat, bed, high chair, diapers and other supplies. As we drove into our driveway, the social worker’s car pulled in right behind us. This was the moment I met our youngest daughter. This is our “birth story.”
At 48 years old, I entered the world of child welfare. The first thing that hit me was the lack of resources. As I scanned the landscape dedicated to the welfare of children who have been removed from first families, I found it devoid of color, joy, opportunity, and people. I saw hundreds of dedicated child welfare professionals. I met foster, guardianship, birth, kinship, pre-adoptive and adoptive parents. What I didn’t see was other citizens actively pouring their time and energy into a very under-resourced Department of Children and Families. Where were all of the people, dollars, and ideas that my children by birth and their peers received on a daily basis? Nowhere. That was the beginning of my journey to create Treehouse Foundation.
What’s in a name?
A treehouse is a place you climb up into, a place where you can find a new perspective—a more expansive view.
It’s a place where you gather with friends, feeling safe and cozy. A place where you can imagine something new. That’s what we wanted to create for children and families. Together we have built a new kind of community. One that recognizes that all children need safety, stability and a loving home. All children deserve to be rooted in family and community.
The intergenerational Treehouse Community is built around the concepts of belonging, thriving, connection, trust, and the opportunity to soar.
Treehouse Foundation Leadership Awards
2019 Nonprofit of the Year Award, Easthampton Chamber of Commerce
2018 Public Voices Fellow (Judy Cockerton)
Encore.org/AARP/OpEd Project
2017 Innovator of the Year Award
Massachusetts Council on Aging
2017 Program with a Purpose, Best Cities for Aging Report
Milken Institute
2017 Innovation Excellence Award
Massachusetts Nonprofit Network
2015 Adoption Excellence Award for Systems Change
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
2015 Citizen Activist Award (Judy Cockerton)
North American Council on Adoptable Children
2012 Myra Kraft Community MVP Award (Rosa Young, Treehouse elder)
New England Patriots
2012 The Purpose Prize (Judy Cockerton, one of 5 awardees out of 1,000 nominations)
Encore.org and AARP
2010 Congressional Angel in Adoption (Judy Cockerton)
Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute
Treehouse Community Housing Awards (Beacon Communities, Developer)
2008 NAA Paragon Award for Best Garden/Townhouse Community
National Apartment Association
2007 Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award
Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition
2007 Community of Excellence Award
Rental Housing Association
2006 Best Special Needs Housing
Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition
2006 Best Family Housing
Affordable Housing Finance