Shellyfish Academy Expands Program to Help Foster Children and Their Parents Find Housing

TRINIDAD, Calif. (KIEM)- Trinidad resident Shelly Luna is a captain who began an organization called Shellyfish Academy to encourage children get on the water, learn how to fish and cook their catch. She primarily focuses on helping foster children who have been taken away from their parents because of addiction and/or neglect. 

Her students are referred to Luna by community members and case workers.

During Luna’s time working with foster children, she believes the main issue keeping them from their parents is housing. She said 90% of the time, the students’ mothers recover from addiction however they are not qualified for appropriate housing.

They are often stuck in their current living condition despite meeting the requirements to regain custody, which can cause parents to spiral back into addiction.

Luna has partnered with 7th Generation House, a local organization that houses mothers and children in Humboldt County. She is expanding Shellyfish Academy to help her students reunite with their parents by providing safe, stable housing and funding each month.

In order to qualify, parents must be employed and show proof of a clean drug record, minimum of one year.

“A lot of recovering moms don’t have credit. The housing that is necessary for these families is out of their financial status. This is an important way to combat the drug issue in Humboldt County and set many children here up for success,” said Shelly Luna, Founder of Shellyfish Academy.