Koinonia Foster Homes founder, CEO retires after 25 years

After decades spent caring for children - her own as well as those without homes - Miriam Golden still has children on her mind."The one thing I want people to remember is the children," said Golden, who recently retired after 25 years as Chief Executive Officer of Koinonia Foster Homes."I raised 37 foster children, took in six at a time, plus my four natural children," she said. "Then one of the social workers from Placer County said, 'Miriam, why don't you look into opening your own agency?'"That social worker was Ray Merz, the former director of the Health and Human Services department for Placer County.In 1982, after 14 years as a foster parent, Golden took the advice and started Koinonia Foster Homes, operating out of a small office in her Loomis home.Merz explained that in the early days, when there weren't many choices for placement of kids on probation other than the California Youth Authority, Koinonia would accept them."She was willing to work with any kids we had," Merz said. "She opened the place for Placer County when we didn't have a group home for those kids, later she opened up the receiving home. I just have always seen her as a really true friend, not for one kind of kid but all the kids, and treated them as a really valuable resource.She formed a good business but provided a tremendous amount of care and help for kids.Her main focus was that she cared about kids. Her business venture was good, but you never make a lot of money taking care of foster kids."Golden's influence didn't extend just to kids.J.D. Hill, a former wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions football teams who himself experienced person problems, credits Golden with helping him get his life back on track."She's been a person who, because of vision God has given her, has so many lives that she touched, changed and saved," Hill said.Through Golden's encouragement, Hill became a foster parent of four children, significantly enlarging his family that already included five of his own children. He eventually went to work for Koinonia."Because of her vision, many of us have received employment and have been able to support our families," he added.Golden also has a strong affinity for Loomis and the many people she has gotten to know here over the years."A lot of my friends here became my first foster parents," she said. "They were very loyal. Of course, Loomis is great, it's been wonderful to me."On July 27, Golden was honored at a retirement tribute dinner for her vision of providing quality homes for thousands of neglected and abandoned children with dedicated foster parents throughout California and Nevada that Koinonia has screened, trained and certified.She has also received recognition for her work locally and statewide. In 1983 she was named Placer County's Mother of the Year and was honored as "Woman of the Year" by the California State Assembly in 1994.