3 Ways to Help Adoptive/Foster Families

As announced in the last post, we are ADOPTING again!

With another adoption comes another huge bill (or bills). To help offset the costs out of pocket, we have been running fundraisers: garage sales, euchre tournaments, and most recently, we have been selling these adorable magnets.

We have been saving our pennies, working extra jobs and extra hours. We have applied for several adoption grants and we have prayed for miracles.

We are fully aware that we can't do this adoption thing alone. More than that, all adoptive/foster families need support and help from their communities. 

Because not everyone can help adoptive/foster families with money, here is my short, and not at all complete, list of ways you could help out the adoptive/foster families in your life that don't cost you anything except a little time.

1. Formula Samples! There are a lot of formula samples available across the internet. For anyone who is adopting a baby, it is likely that they will need formula and formula is expensive. You can sign up to receive formula samples here and here that can help offset some of the formula costs.

2. Ask for clothing/supply donations from your circles. Even if you are close to the adoptive family that you want to help, chances are you know people who might have baby supplies they are looking to give away or lend. 

We saw this one in action big-time with the arrival of our Little Man. We basically had a  and only a car seat when we went to the hospital to pick him up (more on that story here and here), but when we returned two days later, we had all the supplies we needed and most had been donated or lent to us. 

The clothes and car seat that we used to bring Little Man home were all lent to us.

One of our friends simply put out a facebook plea with no details other than a family was in desperate need of baby boy clothes, and that plea alone brought in two garbage bags full of clothing and blankets. In fact we were given so many clothes, we didn't need to buy him any clothing until he was over a year old.

3. Offer physical help. Our Little Man was born in the fall and one thing we found we needed help with was clearing the leaves out of our yard (we had a huge, tree-filled yard at the time). If people asked us how they could help, we would often hand them a rake. 

Many hands make light work, and sometimes giving adoptive/foster families a little help around the house or yard while they are adjusting to new additions to their households, can be a huge help.

I hope these are helpful - now go and help the adoptive/foster families in your life!.