Who?

Who?

For the Children – Bremerton has hosted Royal Family Kids Camp #46 for over twenty five years. We take children from the foster system in Kitsap County and surrounding areas to a 5-day overnight summer camp. We love families and work to place siblings at the same camp, if it is beneficial for the children. We also love to take kids to camp who are newly adopted or in kinship care but would still benefit from a week of trauma-informed love and fun. We prioritize camper applications for children who have not attended another RFK camp in the same summer. We refer our graduate campers to Teen Reach Adventure Camp https://www.teenreach.org/

What?

We intervene in the lives of children in the foster system who have experienced family induced childhood trauma through hosting them at a week-long camp run by vetted and trained volunteers who invest in healing through relationships and memorable moments.

What can the camper expect?

Camp days are busy, and full of traditional fun camp activities such as swimming, fishing, hiking, field games, woodworking, crafts, campfires, singing, skits and stories. We are also sure to include more quiet activities like brick building, painting, reading circle, etc. for those who are more sensory sensitive. Campers spend all their time with their counselor and one buddy camper (2:1 ratio), along with the counselor’s buddy and his/her two campers. It’s a team! And the campers are never alone or one-on-one with anyone – children or adults. It is a safe and loving place with good food, good fun, and sunshine!

What can the care giver expect?

We aim to work with the foster parents or care givers, as well as social workers, throughout the application process to make sure we can collect all the important details about the campers – their health history, their needs, their triggers and what works best to care for them. Our counselors receive these notes before camp and are trained in TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) and trauma informed care. We hope that this week at camp can be a week of reprieve and rejuvenation for the care givers.

Once applications open in March, you may fill out an Inquiry Form with basic information and we will contact you by phone for a screening conversation to make sure our camp matches with the best needs of your camper. You will then have the opportunity to fill out a complete application. We will then touch base with you as camp nears to make sure you know what your camper should pack and to answer any questions.

What can the social worker expect?

• CAMP RULES – 1. Two-Deep Rule (never alone), 2. Private beds (even bunk beds are not shared), 3. Safe personal touch (no lap sitting, piggybacks or frontal hugs), 4. Strict Photo Policy - No publishing of camper’s faces, 5. No exchanging personal contact information with volunteers or other campers, 6. Medications are locked up or stored safely, 7. Name tags are always worn by campers and staff to identify safety.

• We do not Proselytize, that is to force, pressure or coerce our beliefs on others. No Communion, No Water Baptism, No Altar Calls, No Laying on of hands, No Casting out of demons, No Speaking in tongues, No Anointing with oil are allowed at our camps.

• Royal Family Kids Camp is a community camp for community kids where we share the love of God by how we live and act around the campers. We do share stories from the Bible, and present the campers with a Bible (per our national standards), we also pray before meals, and sing songs focused on God’s goodness, power, and love.

• We are highly trauma informed and teach lessons of identity, self worth and resiliency.

• COVID-19 regulations will be adhered to in whatever way is necessary at the time of the camp.