2025 Unsung Heroes: Celebrating Cindy Sylvester

Seattle’s Child is proud to partner with the state Department of Children, Youth and Families Strengthening Families Washington to honor outstanding caregivers doing important work on behalf of children. Throughout February, we’ll introduce you to Unsung Heroes from around the state. Enjoy their stories.

Cindy Sylvester, Sequim

Cindy is my mother-in-law who has, in my opinion, shown all of the strengths listed above over the past year and a half.

Last July, her family of five adopted a 7-year-old girl from the local Jamestown tribe who was relocated here from Oklahoma. She and her husband, Joshua, welcomed her with open arms and tried to comfort her after her many years in foster homes and trauma.

Not even four months later, Cindy’s family was called upon to be emergency, and now long-term, foster parents to their two young grandchildren. Their family has gone through so much change over the past year, and they are trying hard to make everyone feel loved and welcomed.

Cindy is a longtime staff member of the after school/childcare program the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe. She devotes long hours to serving the families there as well as taking care of her own children, adopted child and grandchildren. For several years she has learned about and learned from the children she cares for and provides a safe place for all the children she looks after.

She is always encouraging, extremely creative and always thinking of others. The Jamestown tribe as well as the Olympic Angels have been a huge blessing to her and her family over the years providing food, meals, respite care when needed, and activities for the whole family to do together. Cindy and her family embody the unsung hero name and are truly amazing people.

— Rosalind Sylvester

NOTE: Seattle’s Child is running these stories unedited, as written by the people who nominated them, in keeping with the DCYF Unsung Hero process.