How to Support Children in Foster Homes Without Being Foster Parents
There are more than 400,000 children in the US foster care system every day. Some of these children are in the system for days or weeks, while others spend months or years jumping from house to house, and each of them has been traumatized.
May is National Foster Care Month , which means this is the perfect time to show parenting children that they are being seen. But how can you do this if you don’t become a foster parent or social worker? The people who work with and care for the children in foster homes are crucial, but these children need more than one or two adults in their corner – they need a whole village.
What is it like for children in foster families?
To say that these children are facing a tough battle would be putting it mildly: they are often removed from their homes and their biological families with very little or no warning, meaning that the vast majority of their possessions remain. They may be too young – or too traumatized – to share the experiences that led to their care, let alone process them.
They may be old enough to attend full-time school, but have attended so rarely or changed schools so many times that their academic performance has dropped below their potential. They may be hungry, which may cause them to hoard food supplies. They can be over-treated, misdiagnosed, or completely overlooked.
How You Can Help Foster Children
I have to start with my favorite organization that is most likely to put a smile on a child’s face right away: One Simple Wish . Children in care can send requests for wishes to the organization through their social workers. Donors can search for wishes by age, gender, location, price, category, or urgency.
The desires are really simple – things like new shoes, a basketball hoop, a bathing suit, or a duffel bag to take with you to camp. You can buy these things for your children without even thinking about it. You can send a child a personalized note and select a field that will notify you if that child ever makes another wish request.
What I love about this organization is that although children leave foster care at the age of 18-21, former foster youths never “drop out” of One Simple Wish. This means young people who have been in care can send wishes for items such as furniture, items to decorate their dorm rooms, personal care products, or even gift cards for groceries.
(Full Disclosure: I serve on the board of directors of One Simple Wish, but I was a donor / supporter long before that because I believe so deeply in its mission.)
How to Become a Court Appointed Lawyer
Children who spend a significant portion of their childhood in foster care often have very low consistency or stability both in terms of housing and in relation to the adults with whom they work. There is a high turnover in this area, and the older the children get, the more often they are relocated. This is where the CASA / GAL (Special Lawyers and Guardians Appointed by the Court ad Litem) organization comes to the rescue.
Trained CASA / GAL volunteers are appointed by a judge to defend the best interests of the child in court. Quality CASA and GAL spend a significant amount of time with the child, and because they are asked to do the job from start to finish, CASA is often the only permanent person in the child’s life while the child is in care.
Ask your local child care agency how you can help
Want to help children in your area but don’t know how? Find your local childcare agency, call them and ask how you can help. They may need volunteers to travel with clothes, or help with a fundraising event, or new toys for their playroom. Maybe you even have skills or experience to apply – for example, they might need someone to freshen up their lobby with a coat of paint or help develop new marketing materials.
Unless they have a specific immediate need, they probably know of another partner organization in your area that is there and can point you in the right direction.
This article was originally published in 2019. It was updated on May 19, 2021 with new information and alignment with Lifehacker style guidelines.