Make a Difference Monday: How can you brighten a typical day in the life of a Foster Care Worker?

As we celebrate foster care worker appreciation month in January, we thought it would be interesting to ask some workers what their typical day might look like.  Here is one answer we got:

"It often is a long day and many days we are on call days and our work is 24 hours straight. We truly never know what that day is going to bring so while we may plan to stay in our office and work on piles of paperwork , our emergency’s that day will wipe out that plan in seconds. In this job not only are we working with a child in need, we are working within Court timelines for paperwork and state demands of this to happen within 5 days or 10 or 30 etc. Often times you will see workers failing to use up leave time because everything is very time sensitive in this job."

The picture above is some foster care workers that we were able to bless last summer when we hosted a picnic in their honor.  We want to continue to honor all of the work that goes into helping children in foster care and we want to pray for these workers.  Will you join us? 

Here are some ideas on how you can bless a foster care worker this month:

All donations/gifts SHOULD BE given to the agency (indicate they are for foster care workers) rather than DIRECTLY to the workers.

·         Donate gift card for groceries, gas, or restaurants

·         Donate gift Card to a local spa

·         Wash/detail workers’ cars

·         Write encouraging cards

·         Bring in potted plants or offer to plant flowers outside of the office

·         Bring in lunch for their team

·         Donate gift card to Starbucks/coffee

·         Clean restrooms in office

         Wash office windows

·         Bring in treats

·         Bring in coffee (a name brand like Duncan Donuts, Starbucks, or Folgers) to the office so they can brew it for the employees, instead of the generic coffee they usually brew

·         PRAY for strength and wisdom for workers to do their jobs well

·         Find out the name of ONE worker in your community and commit to praying for him or her for at least one week

·         PRAY for foster care workers - that they will sleep well and feel refreshed each week and for wisdom and strength to deal with unexpected crisis that often arise.

·         Fill the employee fridge with Soda

·         Fill the employee freezer with popsicles or Ice cream bars

·         Donate a date night package of gift cards (a dinner and a movie)

·         Have a worker appreciation picnic

·         Purchase swim passes and/ or movie passes

·         PRAY that they will find good quality daycare for their  kids or respite

·         Mini golf passes, zoo passes

·         Donate case worker car kits

·         Donate museum passes for caseworkers own kids as well as the children on their caseload

 

For more information or questions, email info@theforgotteninitiative.org