25 things you can do to help children in foster care with out becoming a foster parent

1. Comfort bags. Collect donations and stuff backpacks or duffle bags full of items you think would help comfort children entering the foster care system. Many times, when children come into foster care they only have the clothes that are on their back. Stuffed animals, blankets, personal care items, pajamas, crayons, coloring books, journals, card games and stickers make great comfort bag items.

2. Provide a special treat for Social Workers at your local DSS office. Social workers have one of the hardest jobs. They are on the front lines, protecting and fighting for the best interest of children who have been abused and neglected. They have huge caseloads and often times are never thanked for their efforts in keeping children safe. Coffee and donuts, bagels, a candy bar, a catered lunch. It would mean so much to them.

3. Share our Facebook and Instagram posts. Help educate and raise awareness. The statistics are staggering. Foster care tends to have a lot of stigmas attached to it. Help us break those misconceptions and educate people about the need of more support for children in our communities. Someone on your friends list may be considering fostering or adopting and you don’t know it. Maybe your post will be the push or sign they need to start the process.

4. Contact your local DSS and ask them if they have any needs. Each department of social services has their own specific needs. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them and find out what these needs are, then help meet them.  

5. Sponsor a foster child for a week in summer camp. Obviously, each county, each state, has a different set of rules and guidelines they follow, but a lot of times children in foster care can only attend summer camps that are held at licensed facilities due to funding. Sometimes a child in foster care may want to attend a specialty camp that state funding will not cover. You could provide a week of summer camp to a child who may not have that opportunity if it weren’t for you.

6. Start or participate in a mentoring program. There are children living in group homes who have no one to come take them fishing, or shopping or to the movies. Find out if your community has a mentoring program. If they don’t, start one. An hour or two a week, could make a huge difference in a child’s life.

7. Provide free babysitting to a foster family. This one is pretty self explanatory. Foster parents need a break. They need time to reconnect and recharge. Self care is so incredibly important. If you know a foster family, offer to watch the children.

8. Make a meal for a foster family. It doesn’t just have to be when they have a new placement. Any day would be great. Making a meal, as a thank you for all they do would mean so much. Don’t have time to make them a meal? Order them a pizza. 

9. Contact your church or other religious organization. See if they would be willing to host an informational session about foster care and adoption through foster care. You can arrange for a social worker from your local DSS office to come out and speak to the community. Maybe you could find some local foster families that would be willing to come in and talk about their experiences. 

10. Start a foster parent closet. As stated before, most children who enter foster care only have the clothes on their back. Sometimes, foster parents are provided with a very small stipend to help cover some clothes and shoes but the stipend is never enough. A foster parent clothes closet can provide some additional clothing and shoes to children in foster care. If your community already has a foster parent closet, contact whoever is in charge of it and see if you can volunteer to help organize it by size, gender or season.

11. Help a teens aging out of foster care. There are teens in every county, in every state that are aging out of the foster care system with no forever family. Contact your local DSS and see if any of these teens could use some help. This could mean collecting donations for these teens as they transition from group homes or foster homes into their very first apartment. You could collect grocery store gift cards for these children. Any support to help them succeed in what is certainly an uphill battle. 

12. Look at your talents, your career, your hobbies? How could they assist children in foster care. Are you a photographer? Offer free sessions to foster families. Many times, children in foster care have gaps of their lives where there are no pictures. Help close this gap. You could also offer your services to take quality photos of children waiting for an adoptive home. Are you in advertising or marketing? Offer free services to your local DSS to help recruit more foster families. Do you own a lawn service? Mow the lawn for a foster family. Be creative. What can you do? 

13. Start a “little free pantry” somewhere in your community. There are families struggling to make ends meet in every community. There are children who are hungry. There are children that are at risk and they could benefit from not having to worry about where their next meal is going to come from. Part of preventing child abuse and neglect is building stronger communities, stronger families and stronger neighborly ties.

14. Become a Guardian Ad Litem or a CASA. A Guardian Ad Litem or CASA is a court appointed person who advocates for the best interest of children in foster care. They help give a voice to children who have no voice.

15. Collect school supplies. School supplies can be very expensive. You can buy and collect school supplies for children who are at risk or children currently in foster care.

16. Provide Normal every day activities to children in foster care. Foster children are just normal kids, in abnormal situations. Help provide activities for them to experience normal everyday activities. Pay for piano lessons, ballet class or soccer. Children in foster care may not have these opportunities if it weren’t for someone like you. You could also purchase a gift card to the movie theater, a restaurant, the bowling center or Target. These gift cards can be given to local group homes or social workers to provide normal experiences for these children.

17. Mentor a struggling biological parent. Look for organizations in your community that are providing parenting classes or mentoring programs to parents who may be at risk of losing their children to foster care or that have already had their children removed. Offer to be a mentor. Sometimes these parents have no one to talk to. No one to support them. A non judgmental friend may be what they need to make monumental changes in their lives.

18. Provide Christmas presents, Easter baskets, clothing or a meal to a recently reunified biological family. 

19. Vote for candidates who have demonstrated leadership in improving the foster care system. All elections matter, educate yourself and then get out and vote. 

20. Become a respite care provider. Contact your local DSS and see if they offer licensing for respite care providers. If they don’t, check with some private agencies. There are numerous times that foster families need some place safe for their foster children to stay. You could provide this wonderful short term care.

21. Adoption Parties. Check with your local Department of Social Services and see if they have anyone who plans adoption celebrations for children who have been adopted through foster care. If they already have this program in place, find out how you can assist. If this program does not already exist, ask if you can start it. These adoption parties can typically be held in a room at DSS. It is just a quick little celebration with the child, their forever family, the GAL and any social worker who has been involved in their case. The party can just have a few decorations, maybe a teddy bear for the child(ren) and a cake. 

22. Purchase and collect new visit room toys. Children in foster care typically visit with their birth families at DSS a couple hours each week. Many times, there are very few toys for these families to play with. New toys will help to make these visits much more pleasant for everyone involved. 

23. Talk with your local schools about the unmet needs of children enrolled there. They will not be able to give you any identifying information about these children but I’m sure there are children who have needs that are not being met. Uniforms or clothing, back packs, extra curricular activities, tutoring, books etc. 

24. Sponsor a support group for foster and adoptive parents. Provide space, coffee, food, supplies, childcare or funds to help cover childcare costs. Foster and adoptive parents need to know that they have support and other parents that “get it”

25. Collect gently used prom dresses and suits for teens in foster care or offer to pay for a foster teen’s prom ticket. Prom should be an exciting time for teens but many foster children will not have that excitement because there are no funds to purchase a new formal outfit or even the prom ticket itself.