- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Solgat named ‘Angel in Adoption’ for dedication to foster children often overlooked by the system
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A longtime Lake County resident who has for decades been a devoted mom to an ever-increasing number of children through foster care and adoption is being honored for her work.
Congressman Mike Thompson announced that his nominee, Denice Solgat of Cobb, has been chosen as the 2020 “Angel in Adoption” for California’s Fifth Congressional District.
The Angels in Adoption Program is run by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and honors people and organizations that promote strong adoption, permanency and child welfare programs across the county.
Each year they recognize individuals who are dedicated to these issues and make a deep national impact.
“Denice represents the very best in foster parents, having fostered more than 300 children over the past 25 years and adopting 11. She is particularly adept at helping medically fragile and special needs children who can get otherwise passed over by foster parents,” said Thompson. “She’s made a measurable difference in the lives of so many and I am proud that she has been selected as this year’s Angel in Adoption for our district.”
Solgat said the award is “an amazing honor.”
She calls her work with foster children “a grand adventure.”
Solgat said she’s always been a “kid person,” beginning to babysit when she was just 10 years old. “I’ve always been somebody kids migrate to.”
She spent part of her childhood in Marin County before her family moved to Lake County in 1978. She attended Kelseyville schools and Mendocino College.
When Solgat was a child, she said her aunt was a foster mom. Doing such work provided her aunt with a way to stay home yet bring in a second income.
So like her aunt, when Solgat first started into foster care 28 years ago, it also was a way for her to earn some extra income while she and husband, Dave, raised their three biological children.
“It just evolved into a passion, a very great passion, and something our family is very good at,” she said.
As a result of years of experience and a team of care providers who support her family, they are now able to accept with open arms and open hearts whatever child needs them.
Over the past 25 years, she’s seldom had an empty bed in her home, where she takes a maximum of six foster children at any given time. She’s quick to point out that doesn’t mean there are only six children around at once, as she still has grandchildren and extended relations coming over to hang out on a regular basis.
Between placements, she said she takes a break to refuel and recharge her family, as she acknowledges that it takes a lot of energy from everyone to incorporate a new member.
Most of the children she fosters are reunited with their families, Solgat said. “That’s the nature of the business.”
Typically, the county tries to reunify families within 18 months, preferably 12 months. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Solgat said.
“Going to foster care is a timeout for your whole family,” she said, explaining that her family is a safety net and a time out for other families to reset priorities and to heal.
Solgat said the majority of times it works thanks to lots of good social workers and families working hard to make positive things happen.
The Solgat family specializes in serving children that are medically fragile with sometimes health complexities.
They’ve been known to travel across the country to find medical solutions for children with serious health issues.
The intricate care network Solgat has developed to support the medically vulnerable and special needs children she fosters includes relationships with agencies from the California Children’s Services, to UCSF, to the Children’s Hospital Oakland.
Solgat also credits a team of local health care providers – including Marlene Quilala, a pediatrician at Lake County Tribal Health, and Ruby Carlson at Riviera Dental – for providing a key part of her family’s foster parenting structure.
When you have long-term relationships with medical providers you’re able to communicate at a different level, Solgat said.
The Solgats have also had to face the challenges that come with wildland fires, including days-long evacuations such as the one they faced when leaving their Cobb home during the 2015 Valley fire.
“We have quite the contingency evacuation plan,” she said.
“We tend to just go calmly and with grace, and put it all in the God box and play lots of Uno,” she added.
Solgat said they treat evacuations like camping adventures. “Retreating means that we’re just going camping and we don’t know when we’re coming back and it’s a grand adventure,” she said. “It certainly adds another dimension of challenge.”
When word gets out that her family has an opening, she said she’ll get calls not just from Lake County but from Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
“The counties are really trying to do the right fit placement, and that’s a luxury,” she said, explaining that a home like hers that specializes with an established team for medically fragile kids is unique.
“Finding the right fit is so important for everybody involved,” she said, adding that it prevents foster parent and social worker burnout.
She said her husband Dave is “full-time Mr. Mom.”
About 23 years ago, she started work at Mendocino College’s Lake Center. “He came home to stay home with the kids. We traded places for health insurance.”
She serves as the center assistant at the college’s Lake Center in Lakeport. “It’s just another mom role,” in which she said she nurtures students and helps them navigate the complexities of the system.
The Solgats’ oldest daughter, Jacqueline Solgat, is now a foster provider in Lake County; her special niche is working with newborn babies.
“I can’t do babies anymore, I need my sleep at night,” Denice Solgat said.
In addition to the children they’ve adopted, Solgat said they regularly hear from about 20 others who have been reunified with their families but still like to keep in touch because they appreciated her family’s efforts on their behalf.
One thing she hears a lot from them is, “I wish I would have listened to you.”
“I have to believe that the kids are going to take from you what they can,” and apply it in their own time, she said.
For people who have an interest in helping children and the capacity to do it, Solgat encourages them to consider being foster parents.
“There’s a desperate need for foster homes, continually,” not just locally but statewide, she said.
Solgat said the county of Lake is now certifying its own foster homes.
Interested individuals can contact Lake County Social Services, 707-262-0235, for more information.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.