The joy of being a foster parent is immeasurable. Bringing a child into your home, supporting and loving them throughout the most challenging part of their life, has a feeling like no other. A foster family can make a big difference in a child’s life.
While it’s a beautiful idea to foster children, it’s a tough call. All aspects of your home will change when you bring a foster child into your home.
Families that foster children need support and love from the wider community around them; this helps them cope with the daily challenges and joy they’ll face.
You can help these foster families too. You don’t have to be an expert in the field to offer assistance to them. All that’s needed is the willingness to serve. By reaching out to foster families, you show that you see their efforts and care about what they’re doing.
If you don’t know a foster family personally, you can reach out to your local placement agencies to learn how you can help. Here are 4 ways to help local foster families.
1. Delivering meals
Food is an excellent way to support a foster family. You can help by sending over a home-cooked meal or a gift card for them to order dinner; that’ll be a great relief to the parents because they can use the time to rest instead of worrying that they’ll have to cook dinner despite feeling tired.
There are also other creative ways to deliver a meal to foster parents.
· Bringing them breakfast such as coffee and donuts
· Delivering coffee for the parents in the morning
· Make a basket packed with fixings to make different sandwiches
· Baking and delivering cookies
· Create a meal train by getting other families involved so that they take turns each night
· Supplying a basket of food to go with what they already have for the holidays
However, contact the family before so that they can inform you of any dietary restrictions.
2. Offering respite
Respite is formal and regular babysitting. It’s providing overnight care so that the foster family can rest. Most foster families need a break, but they don’t have anyone offering the service to them. To make it more official, you can offer your services regularly, such as once a month, etc.
3. Organizing playdates
Foster parents spend most of their time at home, so organizing a playdate with others is a great idea. The parents can choose which child, if they have biological children, will go to the playdate because sometimes the child’s attention is cut short because of the foster child.
4. Helping with the holidays
Holiday times are a difficult time for foster children because, at that time, they get a break from school, and that’s when they move to different homes. Foster parents aren’t given extra money for holiday spending by the foster care system. So here are some ways you can help, especially during the holidays.
· Offer clothing such as socks
· Buy a present suitable for their age
· Purchase new clothes
· Make ornaments for the family
If you feel the need to be more involved with children, you can try being a foster parent or a supporter by visiting experts. It’s always good to get help from others when caring for a child you don’t know. However, as a community, we can all help to make fostering easier
