Department of Family Services – Children, Youth and Families

CONTACT INFORMATION: Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
703-324-7500 TTY 711
12011 Government Center Parkway, Pennino Building
Fairfax, VA 22035
Oriane Eriksen
Director

Department Resources

Related Resources

Adopt-A-Family Holiday Program

two adults holding giftsWhat is the Adopt-A-Family program?

The Adopt-a-Family Program was developed to help children and families who are in need of clothing, food and toys for the holidays. Every fall, the program begins taking donations to support families who are working with Fairfax County Department of Family Services, Children, Youth and Families Division. The program matches generous donors with identified families to make their holidays more joyful. 

With the help of the community, this program has expanded its mission since its inception in 2006. Volunteer & Partner Services works within the community to help these families in times of need, not just during the holiday season.

Thanks for your interest. Check back in September 2025 to adopt a family. 

variety of wrapped holiday giftsIf your family, business, company, organization or faith-based group is interested in helping to support a family experiencing difficult times during the holidays, this might be the program for you.

Please consider Adopting-A-Family today to help make their holidays brighter!

Make an impact and help families at the holidays or any time of the year by making a monetary contribution or providing gift cards for food, clothing, toys, new baby items, etc.

To get involved, contact the the Volunteer and Partner Services Supervisor by email.

two message dialog boxesIf you, your family, or your organization want to adopt a family, follow these steps: 

  1. To become an Adopt-A-Family donor, fill out the Adopt-A-Family Donor Form.
    • Include your name, organization/company name, email, phone number, and mailing address.
    • Indicate the number of children you would like to support in your adopt-a-family (plan to purchase about four to five gifts per child in addition to winter clothing).
    • You can also buy something for parent(s)/caregiver(s) (a gift card to a big box store is recommended).
       
  2. We will email to you the information for your specific adopt-a-family, including: 
    • first name of each child, their age(s), clothing and shoe size(s). If clothing is not noted on the form, that means they would prefer a gift card to pick out their own clothing.
    • each child's wish list.
    • their referring worker's name and phone number.
    • the office address where you can ship or drop off gifts.
       
  3. Please do not wrap the gifts, but, if possible, donate wrapping paper for the family to wrap their children's gifts.
     
  4. At least one week before the delivery date, connect with your Adopt-A-Family's referring worker to coordinate a mutually convenient shipping delivery date or drop off date/time.
     
  5. Deliver the unwrapped gifts or have them shipped to the referring worker by Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Please do not deliver gifts to the family's home.

GENEROUS DONORS SPREAD HOLIDAY CHEER!

2024 Adopt-A-Family Program HighlightsOur 2024 Adopt-A-Family Program has outdone itself! For the second year in a row, our Adopt-A-Family Holiday Program was open to all child serving programs within the Department of Family Services and the community support was unbelievable!

Thanks to our 697 donors the holidays were brighter for 1,009 families and 2,190 children this season! The program exceeded previous levels of giving in every way! Thanks to all the generous donors for the gifts, clothing, toys, necessities, and more!

Some generous sponsors provided feedback about their experience and your responses were so encouraging:

“So happy that this program exists and thank you to all the case workers that are working so hard during this time to get gifts out to these families.”

“Thank you for this program - we are thrilled each year to participate!”

" I absolutely loved it, I will definitely be doing this for years to come.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with you and help a family in need. Thank you again for providing such a great program to help our community.”

Thank you to each and every one of you who adopted a child and family in need this holiday season. You made a huge difference in their lives. Your generosity is inspiring, and we appreciate all that goes into making this program a success.

You can learn more about the 2024 program. 

Adopt-A-Family collage of gift donations

Back to top

Close
Fairfax Virtual Assistant

Related Resources