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Kids love to get mail. If you have kids, you know this. It doesn’t matter what kind of mail it is. My kids will take the junk mail that I don’t want. Grocery store ads, catalogs, credit card applications, anything that might go into the trash is fair game for kids.
Have you ever seen a child who gets “real” mail with their name on it? Their eyes usually light up. Sammy is fourteen and still loves to get his own mail. Even as adults we love to get mail that is not a bill or junk mail. Have you ever gotten an unexpected card from a friend? If I do, it’s the first thing I open.
Now imagine that you are a waiting child. What are the chances that you are going to get mail with your name on it? Chances are your contact with your biological family has terminated, unless there is contact with a sibling. You might wonder if anyone even knows you exist.
So, what can we do? There are thousands of waiting kids who would love to hear from you. Every state has a waiting child website, or you can check the national site of AdoptUSKids. You can enter search criteria and pull up the age, gender, ethnicity, or region of the child that you would like to contact. You may even choose sibling groups.
Clicking on a child’s name will give you information about that child, and give you a case number. This is what will allow you to find the child’s worker, or to find the state’s main website. Many of the kids’ websites will tell you some things that they are interested in. It might be Scooby Doo, cars, princesses, or a type of sport or musical instrument. This will allow you to personalize something you want to send to the child.
Whether you simply send a card, a coloring book, a comic book, or something else, the fact that this child will receive something specific to them will make their day. Foster parents are usually pinching pennies and have a shortage of time to do “extra” things for the kids. Your gift would be appreciated by both the foster parent and the child.
With the holidays quickly approaching, sending a child a holiday card would be greatly appreciated. Think of what you wanted as a child, or what you would want if you were a child now. If you are not ready to adopt yet, or are questioning whether or not you will adopt at all, this is a great way to be involved without having a child in your home.
I wonder why we don’t have sponsorship programs for waiting children in our country. We support a child in Ghana, and although we will likely never meet him, we are important in his life. True, we send money, which allows positive change in his life, and perhaps children in foster care don’t have the same kinds of material needs. But we also send cards throughout the year, hang his picture on the fridge, talk about and pray for him. It helps us to be mindful of someone else’s need, and I hope it is positive and encouraging for both sides of the equation. It seems to me that it would be easier, and less expensive to support “orphans” here at home. IS there such a program, or is it just a do-it-yourself sort of thing?
What a wonderful idea!! I just called our local DHS office and asked if there was anything we could do locally to help a child in foster care or awaiting adoption and they’ll get back to me on that (so many confidentiality issues!!). I would like to help a child in our community first, but if I get nowhere on that front, I will gladly contact the AdoptUSKids website and go that route (or maybe both). I want to make it a family project for my kids – so they can learn perspective on how lucky they really are to have a forever family. Thank you for the great post and idea!!
I don’t know of any programs in the US because we’re supposed to be able to take care of our own kids since we’re such a rich country.
If you want to a find a local, or at least semi-local child, check the waiting children for your particular state. Each state has it’s own website, besides the AdoptUSKids one.