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20 Ideas to Serve the Foster Care Community

The foster care community is interwoven—connected to one another such that when you serve one group within the foster care community, you often serve another. As you show up for foster or biological parents, you show up for their children. When you support an agency worker, you have the ability to impact those they interact with. As we think about how to reach each group, we do so knowing that it’s challenging to think about them independently. And yet, sometimes, we want to gear our support toward one group. So, we asked you, our Advocates, to share your areas.

If you are feeling stuck or unsure where to go in conversation with your church and agency, consider these suggestions or allow them to spark new ideas!

Here are 5 ways you are engaging your churches to serve each group within the foster care community:

Serving Children:

  1. Hosting Foster Parents’ Night Out
  2. Arranging and providing space for play dates for foster families
  3. Taking the extra step to deliver and set up beds and furniture
  4. Providing avenues for extra-curricular scholarships
  5. Hosting a back-to-school or any other special occasion event

Serving Biological Parents:

  1. Creating activity bags for parents and children to use during visits
  2. Providing photo albums with blank index cards for foster parents to share notes and photos of the child with biological parents
  3. Providing reunification celebration packs
  4. Honoring Mother’s and Father’s Day with specific gifts or crafts for children to create a gift
  5. Keeping agencies stocked with gift cards for gas and groceries to be given as needed

Serving Foster Parents:

  1. Hosting trauma-informed trainings like Hope for the Journey
  2. Creating themed quality-time baskets for the family to connect together
  3. Arranging a photographer and offering free family photo sessions
  4. Offering yard care, car washes, or any other act of service
  5. Providing resources like diapers, wipes, and a journey bag with each new placement

Serving Agency Workers:

  1. Hosting already scheduled foster parent and staff trainings and adding a meal and a note of encouragement
  2. Filling new lunch boxes with on-the-go healthy snacks that they can eat in the car
  3. Providing a gift card for an activity that workers can enjoy with their families
  4. Decorating the office with appreciation posters, balloons and/or flowers
  5. Providing car washes for workers in the agency parking lot during a summer afternoon