For Foster Children

Examples of the needs that Foster Friends meets for vulnerable children living in foster care

Keeping kids and their possessions together


While in state care, an abused or neglected child may move from an abusive home to a relative’s house, to a foster home or two, before finally returning home or being adopted. Sometimes a child’s modest possessions are hastily gathered and delivered to the child’s new home by a caseworker.


In some cases, children have arrived to a new home with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.


When an abused child from Collin County had the opportunity to be adopted by a loving family that lived thousands of miles away, she risked leaving all of her possessions behind. Foster Friends stepped in to pay the costs of shipping her clothes and toys to help her feel right at home.

Teaching Teens to Drive


Teens who “age out” of foster care when they turn 18 face unique challenges that frequently lead to unemployment and even homelessness in early adulthood. Often, they’ve never had a supportive adult to teach them to drive, manage money, pursue education, or maintain employment.


Foster Friends helps teens transition into adulthood by paying for driver’s education. With their license, teens in foster care have an easier time obtaining their first jobs and preparing for adulthood.


Teach a teen to drive. Donate Driver’s Ed. $300

Keeping Kids Involved


Sports and extra-curricular activities teach teamwork and promote good health. But for foster kids, they mean so much more.


For children who are used to being left out, being involved in team-building activities means finally having the opportunity to be included with their peers.


From ballet, to wrestling, to cheerleading camp, Foster Friends makes sure abused and neglected children are able to participate in after-school activities with their peers.


Help a Child Belong. Pay for Extra Curricular activities. $250

Providing a Place to Sleep


When children are removed from an abusive home, the State first turns to biological relatives to open their homes. Relatives are often frantic to help but suddenly becoming responsible for a child (or two, or three, or four) overnight, which can be an overwhelming financial responsibility.


Recently, a young child had to be removed from an abusive home and placed with a relative who was not prepared for the child.  Foster Friends helped transform a spare room into a cozy bedroom. Small comforts like this make all the difference.


Donate a comforter set and bedroom items $100

Supporting Academic Success


In addition to overcoming harmful situations, including neglect and abuse, foster children must also struggle with the frequent moves and school transfers associated with lacking a permanent family. These factors create educational gaps which can be insurmountable.


Consider this real-life Foster Friends success story: A neglected child, whose parents had not sent him to school, struggled when his new caregivers placed him in an elementary school for the first time. Foster Friends negotiated a discount with a summer reading tutor and paid for the lessons needed to help him advance to the next grade level with his peers.


Teach a child to read. Provide a summer tutor. $500.


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