Matt Waller has spent much of his life helping vulnerable children find stability, compassion, and a sense of belonging. As the Director of Community Impact at One Accord for Kids, Waller is at the forefront of a community-driven effort to provide support to foster families and children in the Permian Basin and to spark change in the foster care system.
His journey into foster care began with a personal experience that reshaped his life.
"My wife and I began looking to build our family but encountered some struggles getting pregnant," Waller said in an interview with Midland Times. "We had friends who were adopting, so we looked into it. We went to a class and heard about the foster system—how you’re basically on a list and wait for a child in need of a home. That was the extent of our knowledge at the time, but it sounded like something we wanted to do."
It was during an information session that a statistic left a lasting impact on Waller: that two-thirds of kids who grow out of foster care wind up on the streets, in jail, or dead within a year. “It’s a frightening idea—and believable enough that it made us feel like we needed to do something," he said.
Waller and his wife, Jen, decided to foster with the intent to adopt. This soon led to the adoption of their son, Jaden. Today, the Wallers have fostered a total of five children.
An unexpected moment sparked a new community initiative for the family. Waller recalled preparing for a new placement when Jen asked him to retrieve a car seat from their attic, where they stored items for fostering. Waller’s confusion on which car seat to retrieve sparked his wife’s idea to launch a Facebook group called The Attic, to help foster families swap and share items they needed. What started as a simple effort to pass along clothes and supplies grew rapidly, with the community stepping up in ways Waller and his wife hadn’t anticipated.
From his attic to garages to storage units, the effort turned into a community-driven support network. Churches and local businesses joined in, and soon the initiative was established as The Attic Foster Network. The Attic Foster Network eventually merged into One Accord for Kids as The Attic Resource Center, a program within the organization.
Waller’s work is about more than just giving material support—"It’s about injecting joy where there’s none," he said. "It’s about bringing a little light into what can feel like a dark place."
One of the most moving aspects of Waller’s role is his ability to share the stories of foster children, caseworkers, and the community members who want to help but don’t know how. “I get to be the narrator,” he said. “But it’s not my story. It’s the community’s. It’s West Texans being West Texans.”
Waller believes that fostering and adopting a child isn’t about "pulling them out of a bad situation," but rather stepping into their world. "A child who’s been hurt by relationships needs relationships to heal," he said. “We encourage families to realize you’re not pulling a child out of a bad situation—you’re stepping into it with them.”
Through his work at One Accord for Kids, Waller continues to advocate for foster children, and has even received the Angel in Adoption award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, nominated by Congressman Pfluger. To get involved or to learn more about Matt Waller and the organization, visit oneaccordtx.org.