Vol. 1, No. 1 • Spring 1997

Foster Parent Association Focuses on Helping Children
by John McMahon

Does your teenage foster child really know how to "push your buttons?" Or has your foster child ever had a behavioral or medical problem that you were not sure you could solve on your own, and you had trouble getting in touch with the child's social worker?

In Forsyth County, North Carolina, foster parents can turn to each other when situations like this arise. Through their foster parent association, many foster parents in Forsyth County know each other well enough to give each other a call when difficulties arise.

As Linda Blake, CO-president of the group explains, foster parents are a wonderful resource for solving the inevitable problems of foster parenting. "This association helps us through when things get tough. If I have a teenager I'm having trouble with, there's somebody I can call who's dealt with teenagers. If I've got an infant, there's somebody I can call who knows infants."

Since their ultimate focus is on helping foster children, members of the Forsyth Foster Parent Association (FFPA) have also banded together to provide for children's basic needs.

Thanks to a special arrangement with the local Food Bank, the association promotes families' abilities to feed their foster children. The arrangement with the Food Bank works like this: for every $14 they give the bank, they receive 100 pounds of food. Each year, the association collects this $14 "donation" from participating foster families and then makes a trip to pick up the goods. They need a large truck for this task, because usually they pick up between 4,000 and 6,000 pounds of food--primarily canned goods.

They take this food to a storage space donated to them by a local business. After they unload the truck, foster families come and pick up their share: families with 1 to 2 foster children get 100 pounds of food, those with 2 or more take 200 pounds. Linda Blake says that the thirty-five families who usually participate in this venture "get detergent and a lot of canned goods--its good stuff, things families really need."

Forsyth Foster Parent Association also provides children in foster care with clothes. "Some of these kids come with nothing, no clothes but what they're wearing," Blake says. And as most foster parents find out, the $100 voucher the county provides for purchasing clothes for each child does not go far.

So the association approached various members of the community and explained their predicament. As a result, several local clothing businesses agreed to donate clothes left over from sales or exchanges, and the Salvation Army gives them children's coats. "Word gets around now, and people sometimes just call and bring things over--they know we need clothes," Blake says.

The association takes the same approach when it comes to providing gifts for foster children during the Christmas season. During this time they send out 300 to 400 letters informing people about the gift needs of the many children--up to 450--sponsored by the association. Through their solicitation and advocacy, the FFPA manages to find gifts for every child.

And then there's the Christmas party. This event is attended by foster children, foster parents, and the foster parents' children--usually about 400 people in all. Coca Cola sponsors the drinks for the event, and two local Hardees provide fried chicken for everyone. The space where the event is held is also donated.

Santa Claus is there, of course, and he gives each child a present and a bag of fruit. "It's a lot of work," Linda Blake says, "but we've got a very good team. And its so good for the children."

All this work by the Forsyth Foster Parent Association is also good for those who work in social services. Throwing the Christmas party and providing gifts for the children are all things that used to fall to the DSS staff. In addition, the association builds foster parent morale and helps them stay licensed by giving them a chance to meet their continuing education requirements.

The group usually invites someone to come to their monthly meetings and speak on a special topic, such as AIDS. These hour-long presentations then go towards their annual training requirement. The FFPA also offers longer workshops on topics such as promoting the self esteem of adolescents in foster care.

The association provides child care at its meetings to make it easier for foster parents to attend. Participating members pay dues that pay for the child care.

When asked if she would be willing to talk to foster parents about how to start an association in their home county, Ms. Blake answers with an emphatic "Yes". She also mentions that interested foster parents are welcome to attend one of their monthly meetings in Forsyth County.

John McMahon is a writer and editor who works at the Jordan Institute for Families at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright � 2000 Jordan Institute for Families