About Foster Friends
Foster Friends is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports Collin County children in foster care and those involved with CPS by providing them with ordinary childhood experiences that their caregivers can’t afford and the government doesn’t provide.
History
Foster Friends was founded in 2002 by the Collin County Child Protective Services Board and later changed its name to Foster Friends, a standalone non-profit. Foster Friends utilizes privately raised funds, including donations, fundraising activities and personal donations made by individuals and organizations to provide for the needs of the children.
Foster Friends continues to work closely with numerous agencies across Collin County to assist when requested to do so by providing funds, hosting events, attending meetings that directly address the unique issues that our children face on a daily basis.
Programs
Foster Friends provides ordinary comforts to Collin County kids in foster care and/or those involved with CPS. We currently do this in two ways: by funding special needs requests and by organizing fun family events. We also show our appreciation to the staff who works round the clock with the kids, by hosting staff appreciation luncheons for them.
Paying for Ordinary Comforts
Children in foster care long for a typical childhood, a modest wish that cannot be attained on government support alone. Though foster and kinship caregivers do their best to provide for the children in their homes, they are not always able to finance all the children’s needs. After both government and private resources are ruled out, Foster Friends steps in to provide foster children with some of the common expenses of a typical childhood.
Many of the special needs requests we grant are critical for our kids. For example, we have provided a reading tutor for a failing elementary school student whose caregivers lacked the literacy skills to help him. We’ve also helped teenagers achieve independence by funding their driver’s education or providing a laptop when they age-out and go off to college.
The Foster Friends board reviews and grants special needs requests to children on a case-by-case basis only after careful consideration of the child’s needs and other available resources.
Bringing on the Fun
Foster Friends hosts special events for Collin County kids in foster care and/or involved with CPS.
Movie Day: In the summer, we invite the children to see a newly released movie at Studio Movie Grill. For some of the children, it is the first time they’d ever been to a movie theater.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame: We hosted more than 100 Collin County children and their families at a fun event at the Frisco RoughRiders ballpark, complete with a hotdog and hamburger buffet as well as interaction with the team mascot, face painting and other kid-friendly activities.
National Adoption Day: Once a year, Foster Friends provides food, entertainment, and personalized picture frames to parents who are adopting children. This is a national event that Foster Friends has been participating in for the past 15 years. It is the most joyous day of the year to witness children and their adoptive parents head to the courthouse to finalize their adoptions and celebrate their new families. Foster Friends helps make the event fun and memorable!
Our Board
Executive Board
Terri Green, President
Sue Reeves, Vice-President
Kacie Baxley, Secretary
John Snyder, Treasurer
Geoff Eglen, Asst. Treasurer
Board Liaison
Janyne S. Davis
Board members
Dorothy Culham
Lynn Dodson
Susan Etheridge
Curtis Howard
Dixie Jeffers
Dianne McCall
Delores Miles
Foster Friends
5465 Legacy Drive
Suite 650
Plano, TX 75024