My best friends will soon be finishing up their foster parent classes, after which they are to be considered Worthy to take in foster kids. They’re pretty excited, and I’m excited for them; they love kids and they’re going to be good at it.
What I was wondering was if it would be weird to have a shower or party for them, and try to steer guests towards contributing items that a house with kids in it needs to contain. Spare clothes of all sizes (the emergency placement kids come in with just the clothes on their backs), diapers of all sizes, medicine cabinet supplies, maybe a small high chair and booster seat, sturdy toys, that kind of thing. I mean, I don’t want to load them down with Stuff, because their house is kind of small and they don’t have a lot of storage, but I don’t want them to take in their first kid and realize, waitaminute, we don’t even have any Tylenol for this child!
What do you think? And if there’s any Doper foster parents out there, what kinds of items would be good for them to keep in stock?
I think this is a wonderful idea. After all, parents are parents, and new ones will need stuff, regardless of where the baby comes from.
I would recommend gifts appropriate to the age of the child, and failing that, gift cards or cash.
What a most excellent friend you are!
I’m not a foster parent, but this sounds like a wonderful idea to me! Some good sturdy casual clothing (even second-hand would work fine). Maybe in addition to diapers, some baby bottles, binkies, soft blankets. Children’s OTC meds, band aids. Art supplies like paper, crayons, scissors, glue, are easy to store and a hit with almost all kids I’ve ever known. Maybe some children’s DVDs, video tapes, CDs. Some shelf-stable kid friendly foods (puddings that don’t need refrigeration; juice pouches or boxes, etc.). Maybe if someone in your circle of friends has a house with a large basement or garage, someone could even volunteer some storage space. Oh, those tension baby gates and some other minor babyproofing things (outlet covers and such) would be good, too. In fact, around here at least, we’re getting into yard sale/garage sale season, and lots of this stuff can be found for pennies on the dollar.
This whole idea is very thoughtful of you!
Sounds a little weird to me, although I can certainly see why you want to celebrate–and there is something a little unfair about saying that it’s ok to hold a diaper shower for someone having her second or third baby (who can afford to buy diapers in time) and saying that it is inappropriate to give a shower for someone who has a genuine need for kid related supplies.
You are certain that your friends anticipate having a string of unrelated emergency placements coming through? The people I know best who have been foster parents have generally taken a single child at a time (with potential for there to be multiple foster parents) for a period of weeks or months. (I am not claiming that the foster parents I know are typical). It would be kind of awkward to invite people to bring stuff for a variety of ages, and then find out that they only expect one child at a time, for longer periods of time. I wonder whether you’d be better off encouraging people to contribute money for a gift card (or cards) for clothes or books or toys until such time as you have a better sense of what age items would be appropriate.
Excellent idea, I say go for it. Hard to figure what to get without an age range, perhaps, but a few folks could always go together on something like a swing set for the yard, if there’s one. Round up a few bikes from yard sales of different sizes and have someone mechanically inclined tighten the nuts and oil the chains?
However it happens, it’s a very thoughtful and fun way to celebrate your friends becoming parents.