When a family welcomes a child through foster care, adoption or kinship placement, saying "yes" can be both beautiful and overwhelming. Having a community ready to step alongside them can make all the difference.
That is the heart behind Defend the Fatherless, a Fort Mill-based nonprofit serving foster, adoptive and kinship families throughout York County and surrounding communities. Kinship care means a child placed with a relative or someone the family already knows.
For one Baxter Village family, the mission is personal.
The Watsons say yes
The Watson family moved to Baxter in the summer of 2021 with three young children, drawn to the tree-lined streets, pocket parks, trails, pools and sense of community. Family traditions followed, including Baxter's Fourth of July festivities.
Their story in Fort Mill also led them somewhere unexpected. After supporting Defend the Fatherless financially, the family became licensed foster parents in October 2023 and experienced firsthand the joys, fears, uncertainties, sorrows and hope that come with fostering. They also discovered the importance of having people around them who understood. The prayer, encouragement, practical help and relationships they found through Defend the Fatherless became invaluable.
In May 2025 that experience came full circle when Elizabeth Watson joined the organization as Connection Coordinator, later expanding her role to Special Programs Coordinator for the Back 2 School and Santa's Helper initiatives.
From closet to wrap-around support
The organization began in 2013 as the York County Foster Closet, providing clothing, diapers, car seats and furniture. As volunteers worked with families, they recognized that the need went beyond material items: families needed community, specialized counseling, education, financial assistance and encouragement. Defend the Fatherless officially launched in 2019 to meet those broader needs, and today describes what it provides as "wrap-around support."
More than 100 children each month receive assistance through the Foster Closet. The organization also provides approximately 10 beds monthly, distributes frozen meals, organizes family connection and respite events, offers educational and counseling support and awards more than $18,000 annually in mental health scholarships.
Its Back 2 School program lets children in foster, adoptive and kinship care choose new shoes, backpacks and school supplies. Through Santa's Helper, Defend partners with York County DSS, the state Department of Social Services' county office, to help children in foster care experience Christmas morning.
A place for everyone
"Not everyone can open their home to vulnerable children, but everyone can be an active part of our mission," the organization says.
Neighbors can prepare frozen meals, donate gently used seasonal clothing, volunteer at the Foster Closet or community events, contribute financially or become monthly donors known as "Defenders."
Baxter Village already has ties to the organization. Residents Darci LaRoche and Matt Vaccariello serve on Defend the Fatherless' Board of Directors.
There is also something fun ahead. Defend the Fatherless will host its first annual Defend the Fatherless Prom on Friday, March 19, 2027, at Riverwalk Event Venue. Guests can dress in their favorite prom era and enjoy dancing, food, drinks, live and silent auctions and the crowning of a prom king and queen, all in support of local foster, adoptive and kinship families.
The message the nonprofit most hopes to share is simple: everyone can do something. Sometimes that means opening your home. Sometimes it means donating a meal, volunteering for an afternoon or learning more. And sometimes it begins with a conversation between neighbors over coffee on Market Street.
To learn more, volunteer or donate, visit defendthefatherless.org, email dtf@defendthefatherless.org or call the Foster Closet at 803-887-2688.
This story appears in the October 2026 issue of Stroll The Village.