I don’t know about you, but for me, this has quite possibly felt like the longest winter of all time. As I write this, the weather is cold and gray, and we are heading into the one-year mark of this pandemic. One year of social-distancing, masks and virtual just-about-everything. I’m ready to bring on spring – and its sun, flowers, outdoor activities, and (hopefully) vaccines!
If you’re feeling burnt out, you’re not alone. We all need support, especially foster parents who give so much of themselves on a daily basis. I imagine that many of you often get the question from friends, family, or other members of your community, “what can I do to help?” In fact, these questions come in regularly to the FCFCAA Facebook page and website.
The people reaching out could range from caring members of our community who are not ready or able to be foster parents themselves, to prospective foster parents still going through training, or even current foster parents who are taking a needed break. And while they’re not in a place to have a child in their home at this time, they want to support our local foster youth, and families, in some capacity. But where can they start?
A great resource is the Department of Family Service’s (DFS) Volunteer & Partner Services (VPS) Program, which engages volunteers and builds partnerships to support families with children who are at risk of abuse, neglect or placed in foster care or with relatives. The program builds volunteer capacity in the division, implements programs, and directs activities that promote positive relationships within the community. This support could include things like administrative support, mentoring, tutoring, making donations, and more. For more information, you can reach out to Krissa Slone by email or call 703-324-7751. Or, you can always reach out to your resource worker.
For foster and adoptive parents, there are also opportunities to get involved with FCFCAA. You could consider making donations or helping out at the Foster Closet, hosting a foster-parent get-together in your local area (making sure to follow CDC COVID-19 guidelines), or helping out with social media content or the website. We are always open to your ideas and suggestions for helping to forge and maintain deeper connections among our local foster and adoptive families. For more information, or to share your ideas, please reach out to FCFCAAmail@gmail.com.
I hope these resources will be helpful the next time someone asks how they can help. But remember, you don’t have to wait for people to ask! This is a community effort. And as foster parents, each one of us plays an important role as an advocate for our local families and children. I encourage you to proactively reach out to your networks—including friends, neighbors, churches, co-workers, and others—to share ideas on how they can get involved as foster-youth and family supports. There’s probably more interest than you think -- they may just not know what or who to ask, or where to start.
Thanks for all you do!
Bethany Shively
President
Fairfax County Foster Care and Adoption Association (FCFCAA)
This article posting is part of the Foster Family News monthly newsletter designed to keep foster parents informed about all the new and notable happenings in Fairfax County.
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